China road accident kills 16

A passenger bus collided with a truck and plunged into a riverbed in southwest China, killing 16 people, including 11 students, authorities said.

The accident happened on Sunday afternoon in a village in Dazhou city in Sichuan province.

The truck overturned and the sand and cobblestones it was carrying buried the bus with 25 people on board, including the driver, according to a statement posted on the website of the

Dazhou News .

An official at the local propaganda department said on Monday that she understood the students were aged about 12 to 16.