3 Taiwan tourists killed in C China bus crash

HANSHOU, Hunan - Three tourists, including two from Taiwan and one Chinese-American, were killed after the tourist bus they were travelling with overturned in central China's Hunan Province Monday, local authorities said.

The number and identities of the tourists on the bus have been newly confirmed, according to a statement from the Changde Municipal Government.

The accident took place at about 11 a.m. when a bus carrying 16 people -- including a local driver and tourist guide, six Taiwanese tourists and eight Chinese-American tourists -- on an expressway in Hanshou County of Changde overturned and plunged off a 10-meter-high cliff, the statement said.

It was raining heavily when the accident occurred, according to the statement.

The latest figures showed that all the three victims were female. The 11 injured, who have received medical treatment in two local hospitals in Changde, are all suffering from non-life threatening injuries.

The bus was heading from the provincial capital Changsha to the Zhangjiajie scenic spot, a Changde municipal government spokesman said earlier.

According to the Hunan Provincial Taiwan Affairs Office, local traffic police confirmed that the bus belongs to a travel company registered in Zhangjiajie City.