Drivers at fault in tragic accident

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A traffic accident that killed 36 people and injured three on Sunday was the fault of the drivers, the traffic management bureau of the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

Yang Jun, director of the bureau, said preliminary investigations have shown that the drivers of the sleeper bus and the methanol tank it rammed into broke traffic laws and regulations and the accident has exposed a number of weak points in traffic safety.

"The management for traffic safety did not work properly and the hidden dangers, which have existed for a long time, have not been effectively resolved, which we must pay greater attention to," the director said.

A China Daily reporter discovered that the driver of the sleeper bus could have been driving fatigued, having not stopped for a rest at night, contrary to regulations.

The tanker driver was not properly trained in dangerous goods transport.

Wang Dexue, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety and head of the work group sent by the State Council, said driver fatigue was the major cause of the accident and there was no effective measure to force long distance buses to stop for a rest between 2 am to 5 am.

At about 2:40 am on Sunday, a double-decker sleeper bus from Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, to Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, rammed into a tanker carrying methanol, a highly flammable liquid, and caught fire on a highway in Yan'an.

Thirty-six people were killed on the bus and three escaped with injuries. The two drivers of the tanker were not harmed.

According to Liang Hongxian, mayor of Yan'an, the tanker from Henan province had just left the highway's Ansai service area and was hit by the sleeper bus about 73 meters from the service area.

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.