Bus plunges into reservoir in China, 21 dead

Bus moving at a slow pace made a 90 degree turn and smashed through the guardrail

BEIJING:

A bus carrying students to an exam plunged into a reservoir in China on Tuesday after making a sudden swerve across five other lanes of traffic, leaving 21 dead and 16 injured, a video on state media showed.

The video on CCTV’s social media account showed the bus moving at a slow pace on the inside lane of its side of the road before it made a 90 degree turn and smashed through the guardrail onto the other side of the six-lane dual carriageway and into the water.

21 dead, 15 injured after #bus plunges into lake in southwest China #Accidenthttps://t.co/XDq24T8WH3 pic.twitter.com/10Jg0DPd42

— CCTV+ (@CCTV_Plus) July 7, 2020

CCTV said some of passengers on the public bus were students scheduled to take the “gaokao”, or national college entrance examination.

The cause of the incident in Anshun in the southwestern Guizhou province is under investigation, state media reported.

One of the 21 dead was a student and four of the 16 injured, state paper the People’s Daily said. It was not immediately clear how many people had been on board the bus or how many of them were students.

State media showed photos of the bus half-submerged in the water by the side of the road as recovery efforts continued.