Five passengers were killed and six others seriously injured after a bus veered off an icy road and plunged into a ravine in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The bus with 31 passengers on board plunged 30 meters off a national highway in Yongshou County at 8:40 a.m. Tuesday, the county's traffic police said.

Two passengers died on the spot and three others died in hospital. The injured have been rushed to hospital.

The cause of the accident is still being investigated.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2008)