Six people were killed and 24 others injured after an ore-loaded truck collided with a car and a bus on the outskirts of Beijing Friday afternoon, The Beijing News reported on Saturday.

The accident occurred around 2 p.m. in Zhuangtouyu village, Miyun County, about 100 meters north of the Zhuangtouyu checkpoint of National Highway 101 when the truck slid and knocked a car to roadside, and then slammed into a bus head-on, according to the local police.

The dead people were all from the bus heading from Beijing to neighboring Hebei Province. The driver and four passengers died at the scene and another one died later in hospital, police said.

The injured were hospitalized immediately in the county, and they were all out of danger.

"The bus was destroyed on the front. I saw there were more than 20 people inside, all injured," said Zhao Lianyou, one of the villagers who rushed to the scene for help.

According to initial police investigation, the direct cause for the accident was the truck blew its tyre and slid. But passengers of the bus said overspeeding and overloading were also factors.

The bus, belonging to Chengde Yueda Transporting Co. Ltd. in Hebei, was licensed to carry a maximum of 23 people but had 26 passengers on board when the accident happened.

Further investigation into the accident is underway.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2008)