Twelve people were killed and three others were injured in a traffic accident on Monday morning in northwest China's Qinghai Province, according to a local police source.

At 7:50 AM Monday, a heavy truck loaded with bottled beer collided head-on with a bus carrying 13 passengers on a road in Hualong Autonomous County of the Hui ethnic group, eye-witness Ma Yingcang told Xinhua.

Eleven people were killed instantly and another died later in hospital. Three survivors have been hospitalized. The passenger bus was badly damaged.

Police said that investigations into the cause of the accident are underway. 

(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)