5 killed, 1 missing after bus plunges into SW China river

CHENGDU, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A bus fell into a river after being hit by rocks falling down a mountainside in southwest China's Sichuan province on Saturday, leaving five people dead and one missing, local authorities said.

Twenty-two passengers were also injured in the accident, which happened at 7:30 a.m. in Gaoxian county in the city of Yibin, said an official from the provincial work safety administration.

The official said the passenger bus, carrying 29 people, went out of control after being hit by rocks that fell from a roadside mountain face, veering off the road and into a river.

The bus had a maximum capacity of 39 passengers, the official added.

Continuous rains have pelted Sichuan in recent days, unleashing floods and landslides. On Thursday, a landslide killed seven people on a highway in Sichuan's Mianning county.

Also on Thursday, a rain-triggered mudslide hit a hydropower station construction site in Ningnan county, leaving three dead and 38 others still unaccounted for as of Saturday.