China: 56 dead in road crashes

Fifty-six people have been killed in three separate major road accidents in China on the last day of the school holidays, AP reports.

In the latest accident, in northern China, a speeding bus carrying mostly young people collided with a car and then overturned, BBC reports.

The bus was carrying 55 passengers, most of which were college students heading back to school after a seven-day national holiday, it said.

The accident was in Tianjin city near Beijing, and brings the total death toll from three accidents to 56 people during the break, which ended on Friday, Xinhua reports.

In eastern Anhui province at least 10 people died and 19 were injured in a 24-vehicle pile-up in wet and foggy weather, the BBC reports.

In the third major accident, 11 people traveling in a van were killed when it collided with a truck in central Henan province, it reports.

Road accidents in China killed at least 65,000 people last year and injured 254,000, according to official figures, the Guardian reports.