BEIJING: A passenger bus collided with a truck and plunged into a riverbed in southwest China, killing 16 people including 11 students, authorities said.

The accident happened on Sunday afternoon in a village in Dazhou city in Sichuan province.

The truck overturned and the sand and cobblestones it was carrying buried the bus with 25 people on board including the driver, according to a statement posted on the website of the Dazhou News, which is overseen by the local Communist Party.

An official at the local propaganda department who refused to give her name said Monday that she understood the students were aged about 12 to 16.

Road accidents are common in China because of poor road conditions and bad driving habits.

Another accident Sunday killed four people and injured eight, when a minibus fell into a gorge in Guangxi region in south China, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, which cited local police.