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July 23, 2011

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41 die after bus catches fire while they sleep

FORTY-ONE passengers died and six people were injured when an overloaded double-decker sleeper coach caught fire in central China early yesterday.

The 35-seat coach was engulfed in a blaze which began at 4am on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway in Xinyang City, Henan Province.

Of the six survivors, one is in a critical condition in the intensive care unit of the Zhumadian No. 59 Hospital in Zhumadian City. Doctors say his chances of survival are slim.

The other five, including the driver, are being treated in a hospital in Xinyang. The bus driver is being questioned by police.

The victims' bodies were so badly burned they will have to be identified by their DNA.

The cause of the blaze is still being investigated, said Zhang Guohui, head of the Henan Provincial Work Safety Administration.

On July 20, a coach heading for Guiyang City in southwest China's Guizhou Province caught fire, forcing its 35 passengers to evacuate.

In southwest Sichuan Province, 27 people died in a bus blaze in June 2009.

An investigation found that someone had taken gasoline onboard the vehicle.




 

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