Seven people, including two children, drowned after a minibus driving along a frozen reservoir fell through the ice on Sunday morning in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The accident happened at around 8 a.m. at the Zhenggou Village of Pulandian City. A villager Liu Xuebao, the driver, tried to take a shortcut by riding the minibus across the frozen Hongqi Reservoir. The ice cracked and the vehicle, with nine people on board, fell into water, according to local police.

Liu and a baby were saved but seven others were found dead.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of the victims and Liu was arrested for "illegal passenger transportation".

"We found the minibus had not been officially approved for use as a business operation," said an official with the city's public security department, who declined to give his name.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)