Two people were killed and 12 others injured after a minibus loaded with pesticide collided with a passenger bus in east China, local sources said on Thursday.

The bus carrying the pesticide exploded and burst into flames after it collided with a passenger bus on a section of national highway 316 in Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, around 9:30 AM Thursday, local traffic police said.

The driver and one passenger on the minibus were killed, while 12 passengers on the two vehicles were injured, four of them seriously.

The fire from the minibus quickly spread to the passenger bus, and both vehicles were destroyed.

Local residents managed to pull those injured out of the passenger bus.

All the injured have been sent to a local hospital.

The minibus made a sudden turn in the road, which caused it to crash into the bus traveling in the same direction, according to witnesses.

A total of 1,280 people were killed in road accidents across China during the past week-long May Day holiday, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2007)