Fourteen people were killed and 14 others injured Thursday morning, when an over-loaded bus ran off road crashing into a ditch in Gaoping City of north China's Shanxi Province.

Most of the dead and injured passengers are women hairdressers, who were heading for home to spend the Spring Festival, China's Lunar New Year, which fell on Jan. 22 this year.

According to transportation regulations, the bus, which had 28 people aboard, should at most carry 19, police sources said, adding that the driver kept driving at night for hours is the major reason for the disaster.

Local officials immediately organized an emergency rescue team to handle the accident, and the injured passengers have been sent to hospital for treatment.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2004)