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Overnight bus catches fire, kills 36 in Shaanxi

Mitch Blatt | August 26th, 2012

From IFeng:



An overnight bus crashed into a tanker truck early Sunday morning, August 26, in Shaanxi province, resulting in a fire that killed 36 of the 39 passengers. The crash became the #1 trending topic on Sina Weibo Sunday. According to Sina Weibo:

Yan’an Bus Rear-Ending Traffic Accident Kills 36 In Shaanxi Province, on the morning of the 26th, there was a big accident. 36 people have been confirmed dead. Three people who escaped alive are currently being treated in the hospital. A double decker overnight bus with the license plate number AK1475 collided with a tanker truck (filled with methanol) with the license plate number RHD6962, causing the two vehicles to catch on fire. … The bus was going from Hohhot [the capital of Inner Mongolia] to Xian carrying 39 people. The bus had just come out of a service station before it crashed. The two drivers of the tanker truck didn’t sustain any injuries. At present, the police are investigating the crash, and the state council has initiated the creation of an investigatory commission.











This crash comes one month after an overnight bus crash in Fujian killed 17. A bus crash in Sichuan on March 15 killed 15. In 2011, a bus crash ignited a chemical fire that killed 41 people, one of the worst traffic accidents in Chinese history. Thus far, there is little commentary on the reasons for the crash, but overnight buses have a reputation for being dangerous due to long driving hours and lax regulations.