Beijing, February 06: At least 12 people were killed when a minibus veered off the road and plunged into a reservoir in China’s southeastern province of Fujian.
The incident happened at 5:27 p.m. local time (0927 GMT) on Friday when the driver of the minibus with 21 people aboard apparently tried to avoid a motorbike, China’s Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
The vehicle then rolled into the reservoir of the Qianling Hydropower Station near Shaowu city.
A child and a baby were among those killed in the accident. Nine people were rescued and shifted to a local medical center. They are said to be in stable condition.
China’s roads are among the most dangerous in the world, with traffic violations leading to tens of thousands of deaths annually.
In 2009, almost 70,000 people died in road accidents — nearly 190 fatalities a day — according to police statistics.
A study in 2008 warned that fatalities from road accidents had nearly doubled in the space of just two decades and were likely to surge further as more and more Chinese acquire cars.
In China, injuries from road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for people ranging from 15 to 45 years of age. About 86.3 percent of traffic deaths and 77.3 percent of injuries are caused by drivers who violate traffic rules.
Poor road safety has also had an enormous economic impact. Apart from the tragedies that claim lives every year, Beijing spends between 12 to 21 billion dollars, approximately 1.5 percent of China’s GDP, on direct and indirect costs.
——-Agencies