36 killed, 36 injured in road accident in China

Beijing: At least 36 people have been killed and as many injured in a road accident in east China's Jiangsu Province, local authorities said on Sunday.

The accident occurred at around 7 am on Saturday, when a packed coach with 69 passengers collided with a truck carrying three people on an expressway, according to the rescue team.

An initial investigation showed that the accident was caused by a flat tyre in the coach, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Further investigation is underway, it said.

Road accidents are common in China, where traffic regulations are often flouted or go unenforced. A majority of the accidents occur due to violations of traffic laws.

China's frequently overcrowded long-distance buses are particularly prone to fatalities. There were more than 180,000 traffic accidents and 58,000 deaths in 2015, according to the authorities.

Traffic law violations comprised almost 90 per cent of those road accidents where people died or were injured, with the total number of such infractions reaching an astonishing 442 million.

At least 36 people were killed and 13 injured when a packed bus slammed into a wall at the mouth of an expressway tunnel in northern China two years ago.