Basi lenye abiria lagongana na lori, lalipuka

 The burnt wreckage of a double-decker sleeper bus and a tanker loaded with highly-flammable methanol

Police and rescuers remove the bodies from a burnt out double-decker sleeper bus

The tanker had just returned to the road after an early morning rest stop when it was apparently rear-ended by the bus at around 2.40am, close to the city of Yan'an in Shaanxi province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

 

The bus was headed south to Xi'an city, it said.

Xinhua news photos showed the charred metal skeleton of the bus rammed up against the back of the tanker.

A policeman surveys the scene after China's worst crash in a year

But Xinhua has reported a total of 36 bodies were pulled from the charred shell of the bus and three people were taken to hospital. 

Road safety is a serious problem in China. 

According to Xinhua, poorly maintained roads and bad driving habits result in about 70,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries a year.

The full scale of the tragic accident can be seen. The burnt out shell of the bus sits directly behind the tanker

 

A traffic police official said the fact most the passengers were asleep at the time might account for the high number of deaths. 

It is thought they may have been unable to escape because there was just one door. 

Meanwhile the bus has been almost completely destroyed by the blaze.

The accident is the worst in China since a fire on an overcrowded sleeper bus carrying flammable materials killed 41 passengers in central China in July last year, according to the country's work safety watchdog.

 Police take evidence and remove wreckage from the scene

Daily Mail