Crash of 4 trucks, 1 bus in Jiangsu kills 11

A wheel came off a truck on the Shenyang-Haikou Highway on Sunday in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, starting a chain reaction of crashes in which 11 people died and 19 were injured, the city's public security bureau reported.

A little after midnight on Sunday, the outer right-rear wheel of the first truck, along with its tire, detached from the axle and fell into the road. Eighteen minutes later, another truck, trying to avoid the obstacle, lost control and went through a center guardrail. It then crashed into a bus, which overturned. That, in turn, led to rear-end collisions by two other trucks.

Seven people who were on the bus died, as well as two from the truck that went through the guardrail and two from the trucks involved in the rear-end collision.

The men in the first truck, whose wheel had initially come off, surnamed Li and Kou, have been detained by police for investigation.

Police also confirmed that all the drivers had tested negative for drugs and alcohol. None of the trucks involved were overloaded, and none had exceeded the speed limit. 

The 19 injured people are receiving hospital treatment. Four remained in intensive care units. 

Most of the injured are young or middle-aged and had broken bones, according to Qiu Haibo, vice-president of Zhongda Hospital of Southeast University, who is leading the medical team that is treating the patients.

"Experts from many departments, including severe injury, emergency and orthopedics, are treating the patients," he said. "All the patients have received timely treatment."