Four people were killed and 26 others injured when their minibus plunged into a 15-meter-deep gully in Xunyang, a county in southern Shaanxi Province in northwest China.

The accident happened at midday on Wednesday as the minibus, which was traveling from Shuhe Town to the county seat of Xunyang, was approaching a bridge on Highway 316, said the Xunyang County Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Four of the passengers died in the local hospital. All the other passengers are being treated in hospital for injuries.

Li Yuangen, the driver, and a four-month-old infant, suffered serious injures.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2007)