Twenty-one people have been killed and 83 others injured in three separate traffic accidents since the Spring Festival travel season began on Feb. 3, said China's communication authorities which urged transportation companies to think of safety first on Friday.

 

A bus carrying 41 passengers from Guangdong Province to Guizhou Province collided with another bus with 48 people aboard on a highway in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the morning of Feb. 3.

 

The collision left 13 people dead and injured 75 others.

 

Police said the bus heading for Guizhou Province violated traffic rules and was to blame for the accident.

 

On Feb. 6, a mini-bus with two passengers ran into a crowd of people at an outdoor market in Linmushan Village of Shitun Town, Guizhou Province. Five people were killed and three others were hospitalized.

 

The cause of the accident is still being investigated.

 

The third road accident, which claimed three lives and sent five others to hospital, occurred on Feb. 5 when a bus with eight people aboard overturned in Yunnan Province, southwest China.

 

The cause of the the accident was not disclosed.

 

The Ministry of Communications has called on communication authorities at various levels to ensure that all travelers get home safely.

 

The ministry urged local authorities to supervise safety measures at bus stops and ban passengers from carrying dangerous goods. Local authorities are also required to stop unsafe buses and overloaded buses.

 

Local communication authorities have been checking transportation enterprises and their employees and educating drivers.

 

More than 700,000 buses are transporting a day more than 50 million people who are heading home for Spring Festival, according to the Ministry of Communications.

 

A total of 2.17 billion passengers will travel during the Spring Festival season in 2007, up 4.9 percent from last year's holiday season.

 

The National Development and Reform Commission said a record 155 million passengers will travel by train, up 4.3 percent, during the 40-day travel peak that began on Feb. 3 and will end on March 14.

 

Meanwhile, 1.97 billion will travel by road, up 5 percent, 28.41 million will travel by water, up 2 percent, and 19.3 million will travel by air, up 9.4 percent.

 

The NDRC has called for better maintenance of important bridges, tunnels, highways and vehicles.

 

It also required transportation departments to add more trains and aircraft.

 

Spring Festival, or the Chinese lunar new year, falls on Feb. 18 this year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)