Five people in a minibus were killed on the spot and another three were injured Saturday morning when it collided head-on with a bus in Shijian Township of Guangning County, Guangdong Province, the police said Sunday.

According to the police, the minibus, carrying eight people, was heading for the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a close neighbor of Guangdong Province.

Preliminary investigation attributed the tragedy to the minibus driver who violated traffic rules by crossing the central dividing line of the road.

The police did not give any information about the bus and further investigation is underway.

Sixteen passengers were injured as a bus overturned on Shijianhu Road, Huainan City of east China's Anhui Province, on Saturday afternoon, local police said Sunday.

By press time, all of the injured, including four seriously wounded, have been receiving medical treatment at the No. 1 People's Hospital of Huainan City, according to the police.

The bus driver said it drizzled when he was approaching Xielidajing, where there was a U-turn and the road became very muddy and slippery. The overturn happened after he attempted to give way to a truck which was coming in the opposite direction but failed to control the steering.

The exact number of the passengers on the bus is unknown.

Cause of the accident is under further investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2005)