Gunpowder-loaded truck explosion kills four in C. China
2009-12-05 04:14:16 GMT2009-12-05 12:14:16 (Beijing Time)
Xinhua English
Photo taken on Dec. 5, 2009 shows some houses damaged in an explosion on a highway in Xiaogan, a city of central China's Hubei Province. Four people were killed and at least six others were injured after a truck loaded with gunpowder exploded Saturday in Hubei. (Xinhua/Hao Tongqian)
Rescue vehicles clean the site after an explosion on a highway in Xiaogan, a city of central China's Hubei Province, Dec. 5, 2009. Four people were killed and at least six others were injured after a truck loaded with gunpowder exploded Saturday in Hubei. (Xinhua/Hao Tongqian)
Photo taken on Dec. 5, 2009 shows a truck destroyed in an explosion on a highway in Xiaogan, a city of central China's Hubei Province. Four people were killed and at least six others were injured after a truck loaded with gunpowder exploded Saturday in Hubei.(Xinhua/Hao Tongqian)
Rescue vehicles clean the site after an explosion on a highway in Xiaogan, a city of central China's Hubei Province, Dec. 5, 2009. Four people were killed and at least six others were injured after a truck loaded with gunpowder exploded Saturday in Hubei. (Xinhua/Hao Tongqian)
WUHAN, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and at least six others were injured after a truck loaded with gunpowder exploded Saturday in central China's Hubei Province.
The accident happened at about 00:20 a.m. at a section of the Beijing-Zhuhai Highway in Xiaogan City. Four died and six were injured, including one seriously, at the scene, a Xiaogan municipal government spokesman said.
The explosion destroyed three vehicles nearby and damaged the road surface. It also damaged some houses in a nearby village and injured an unknown number of villagers, he said.
Traffic was suspended after the accident and resumed four hours later.
The truck was heading to the northern Hebei Province from the eastern Jiangxi Province.
The cause of the accident is being investigated.