BEIJING - On the last day of the weeklong National Day holiday, three major traffic accidents across the country claimed at least 52 lives.

Around 4 pm on Friday, at least 35 passengers were killed when a bus rolled over after colliding with a car at the Tianjin section of an expressway linking the city's Binhai New Area with the city of Baoding in neighboring Hebei province, said an official with the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau.

As of Friday night, the final number of casualties had not yet been determined.

Earlier, a truck crashed into a van around 11:40 am in Sheqi county of Central China's Henan province, killing all 11 people in the van, according to an official from the local safety supervision bureau.

According to victims' families, most of those killed were students on their way to school, China News Service reported.

A third accident occurred around 7 am Friday on a section of the Lianhuo Expressway in Xiaoxian county, in East China's Anhui province, killing six people and injuring 19 others.

The preliminary investigation determined fog was the major reason for the 24-car pileup, according to local traffic authorities.

The accident halted traffic on the expressway for four hours, hindering more than 100 vehicles.

Almost 70,000 people died in road accidents in China in 2009 - around 190 fatalities a day - according to police statistics.

China Daily

(China Daily 10/08/2011 page2)