Eighteen people died and 21 were injured in a freak early-morning traffic accident on Thursday in Shaoguan City, south China's Guangdong Province.

The Yangcheng Evening News reported that at 11 PM Wednesday, a bus carrying 47 passengers collided with a freight truck in the Shaoguan section of the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway. No one was injured despite extensive damage to both vehicles.

Traffic police escorted the passengers and drivers to a grassy area beside the expressway to wait for a bus to pick them up. Expressway authorities were told to divert traffic.

About an hour later, as the victims were enjoying their good fortune, a speeding truck trying to avoid the accident site crashed into another freight truck, sending it out of control.

The freight truck crashed through the expressway guardrail into the crowd of passengers.

Sixteen people, including the truck driver and a police officer surnamed Zhen, were killed instantly. Two other victims died at the hospital.

Investigations of the two accidents are continuing.

(Shenzhen Daily August 13, 2004)