(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-13 08:41

At least eight people were killed after a bus veered off a highway and overturned Wednesday afternoon in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, local government said.

The accident occurred around 2:30 pm when a bus with 38 passengers aboard ran off a highway section and overturned in a nearby ditch in Yuechi County while attempting to dodge two vehicles stopping ahead, according to the Yuechi county government.

By 10 pm Wednesday, eight people, including the driver and a three-year-old child, had died in the accident.

The injured were rushed to two local hospitals.

A slightly injured passenger said the bus was en route from Nanchong City in Sichuan to neighboring Chongqing Municipality.

The cause of the accident is still being investigated.