18 killed, 14 injured in passenger coach-truck collision on China highway

The death toll in a head-on collision between a passenger coach and a truck on a highway in central China has risen to 18, with another 14 people injured, police said Saturday.

The accident took place last evening in Hunan province south of the capital Beijing. Footage from the scene showed both heavily damaged vehicles along the rain-slicked highway. It appeared that one of the vehicles may have crossed a centre divider.

Speeding, dangerous passing, poorly maintained vehicles and fatigued drivers are most often the cause of serious traffic accidents in China. Friday's disaster appeared to be one of the worst in recent months.

Despite vast improvements in safety, the World Health Organisation says about 260,000 Chinese die each year in traffic accidents, many of them pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcycle riders.

Long-distance coach buses are a cheaper alternative to high-speed trains or planes for the vast majority of working-class Chinese traveling around the vast country.