Both vehicles caught fire and only three of the 39 people on board the bus survived the motorway crash, which occurred in the early hours of the morning in Shaanxi province, the state Xinhua news agency said.
A traffic police official said the fact most the passengers were asleep at the time might account for the high number of deaths, while there were also suggestions they had been unable to escape because there was only one door.
A total of 36 bodies were pulled from the charred shell of the bus and three people were taken to hospital. The driver and passenger of the tanker were taken into police custody, Xinhua said.
It appears the bus slammed into the back of the tanker as it was re-entering the motorway from a service station in the northern Yanan City, according to a report on the website of the Shaanxi government. Skid marks stretching for 10 metres were clearly visible on the road, suggesting the bus had noticed the tanker in its path before the collision, the report said.
“Only the shell remains, it is not possible to see even the luggage or the passenger seats in the wreckage,” the Shaanxi website said, quoting a report from state-run China Central Television (CCTV). “The bus also only has one door, which could be a reason that the passengers could not escape.”
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