An overloaded minibus veered off the road in Tongzi County of southwest China's Guizhou Province on Sunday morning, killing all of nine people on board.

The seven-seat bus, registered in southwest Chongqing Municipality, was returning to Chongqing when the accident occurred.

Most of the passengers were Chongqing natives, said police. The passengers were seven men and two women. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The ice-plagued province was hit by overnight sleet on Sunday, which made ice on the roads worse.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2008)