A traffic accident happened on Monday in Pingliang city in Northwest China's Gansu Province, killing 13 people and injuring 47. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese national emergency authority urges to carry out an investigation into traffic accident in Pingliang city, Northwest China's Gansu Province, which happened on Monday. The accident caused the death of 13 people and injured 47.

The Work Safety Committee of the State Council under the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a working group led by chief engineer Wu Xin to the site of the accident, together with officials from the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Transport, to guide local governments in the investigation, said in a notice released by the Ministry of Emergency Management on its official website.

The coach went out of the expressway and rolled over at about 2:10 pm on Monday, in Pingliang, Gansu, on an expressway from the capital city Lanzhou of Gansu Province to Northwest China's Qinghai Province.

There were 63 passengers on the coach when the accident happened, with two drivers and one labor contractor. The rest of the passengers were migrant workers from Zhengyang county in Central China's Henan Province who were going to Golmud city, Qinghai Province, to pick wolfberry, reported the China Central Television.

The accident has caused the death of 13 people as of 6 pm on Monday, their identities are being verified. The other 47 injured passengers were sent to a local hospital for treatment, none of them has a serious injury, according to a medical staff of Jingchuan Country People's Hospital. "After consultation with expert teams from the Pingliang city, some patients were transferred to the Pingliang People's Hospital for treatment."

Since Monday afternoon, all the medical staff in Linchuan hospital have been working round the clock to save the wounded, none of them took a break, they told the Global Times.

"The major task for the hospital right now is to try our best to treat the patients after the accident," the staff said.

Two drivers and one labor contractor on the coach have been detained by the police. And the rescue work, treatment of injuries, and investigation are underway.

Netizens on China's social media platform Sina Weibo have sent their condolences for the lost lives of the migrant workers who departed from Henan, a province that recently has been hit by torrential rainfall, causing the death of at least 69 people.

"They are all breadwinners for their families," said one netizen.

"We just want to keep the casualties to a minimum, and make sure the people sent to the hospital are in good conditions," another netizen commented.