Latest  News

	At least 36 killed in NW China road accident At least 36 people were killed on August 26 after a collision between a bus and a methanol-loaded tanker in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, local police said.   The two vehicles caught fire after the collision in the city of Yan'an at around 2 am. Three people survived, but suffered injuries, said the municipal police.
China launches investigation into Shaanxi road accident China’s State Council has launched an investigation into a collision between a bus and a methanol-loaded tanker in Northwest China’s Shaanxi province.
20 victims of deadly car crash identified A transport company in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has published the names of 20 victims in Sunday's sleeper-tanker crash that killed 36 in Shaanxi Province.

Accident details
	Time	2:18 am, August 26
	Location	G65 highway, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province
	Route	Hohhot to Xi'an
	What happened	A 39-seat Double-decker sleeper bus collided with a methanol-loaded tanker and burst into flame.
	Cause	fatigue driving
	Casualties	36 died and 3 injured
	Possible compensation	200,000 yuan ($31,400) for one victim

Survivors' voices
Zhang Shixiong	burns on more than 50% of body	"The treatment is mainly anti-shock and cleaning the wounds. Burns always send patients into shock. And Zhang’s wounds are badly infected."
Wei Xuemei	burns on more than 30% of body	"The sound of breaking the window woke me up. And the fire was coming. I ran and used all my strength to break the window. I finally got out from under the shelf."
Wang Xianze	slightly injured	"I only had two minutes to get out of the burning bus. Most of the passengers were still in sleep at that moment,"

Official reactions
State Council	State Council has launched an investigation into the collision, asking for strict investigation and punishment to the related departments.
Local governments	Local governments will ascertain the identities of the deceased as soon as possible. They’ve called on the relevant transport authorities to tighten regulations further to avoid accidents similar to this happening in the future.
Zhao Yongzheng, governor of Shaanxi Province	Zhao said in the site of the accident that Shaanxi government must prohibit fatigue driving from long-distance buses in a week.

Car accidents in two days
Time	Casualties	Report
6 am, August 27	9 killed	9 killed in van-truck collision in NW China
7:50 pm, August 26	5 killed	5 killed in NW China car accident
1:30 pm August 25	10 killed	10 dead, 2 injured in van-truck collision in SW China

View  Points

Comments:

●Sleeper buses need best mechanic in country - Global Times
China must be able to demonstrate its capability to handle safety risks, otherwise, all these tragedies would add up to huge question mark on the road of development we've taken.

●Car accident in Yan'an can be avoided - Beijing Times
Our country needs a more strict quality inspection standard for the long-distance buses to keep the safety of the passengers.

Weibo Voices:

@Yang Yu, CCTV commentator: This double-decker sleeper bus should not have been on the road in the first place. The regulation clearly states that long-distance buses should stop running between 2 am and 5 am. Obviously many of the recently-issued safety regulations for long-distance buses have not been fully implemented.

Since some companies believe that the new regulations will increase costs and cause inconveniences to the customers, some managers have not yet complied. Once again we paid for a lesson in blood – safety comes before traveling convenience.  

@退休的人: The key problem is that the drivers themselves do not put safety first. It is too late to talk about safety after accidents happen.

@如是子曰: Breaking the rules is so common now. Many drivers overload buses and trucks because of small profit margins and lots of financial pressure. If they obey the rules, they won't earn much.

@花佳: It's easy to make rules, but who is going to enforce, supervise and administer them? When it comes to profit, nothing else matters.

Photo  Gallery

Background

About double-decker sleeper bus
Advantages	●more comfortable in long-distance trip ●able to take more passengers
Disadvantages	●narrow spaces ●poor sanitation ●high accident rates
Accident rate	●At least six traffic accidents occurred in the recent 17 months, causing over 140 people died. ●Sleeper buses occupy about one percent of buses, while the death toll of sleeper bus accidents is 10 percent of all deaths caused by bus accidents.
Production prohibition	●The manufacture and sales of sleeper buses and relative products should be stopped since March 1, 2012, according to regulations made by Information Industry Ministry. That means sleeper buses will vanish gradually in five years.

Recent highway accidents
Accident	Time	Location	Casualties	Cause	Other Important Information
Bus plunge	About 2 pm, June 20, 2012	Ningde, Fujian Province	17 died, 28 injured	Fatigue driving
Bus crashed the guardrail	About 11:30 pm, April 25, 2012	Nanhua County, Yunnan Province	9 died, 36 injured	Still in investigation
Bus-car crash	About 4 pm, October 7, 2011	Tianjin Municipality	35 died, 19 injured	Overspeed	The driver was detained.
Bus burned	About 4 am, July 22, 2011	Xinyang, Henan Province	41 died, 6 injured	Hazardous chemical carried by a passenger	10 respondents were sent for judical judgement, 32 got punishments for violating party or political rules
Bus-truck crash	About 4 am, July 4, 2011	Xiantao, Hubei Porvince	26 died, 29 injured	Parked illegally	Two managers of the bus compay were sent for judical judgement.
Bus-truck crash	Around 5 am, March 16, 2011	Linfen, Shanxi Province	12 died, 16 injured	Still in investigation