A traffic accident took place on Zhongyan Highway in Jiangyou, Sichuan province on Sunday afternoon, killing eight people and hurting 19 others, local police said.

At about 2:53 pm, a 36-year-old man surnamed Xu was driving a heavy semitrailer traction tanker full of fly ash from Shuanghe town in Jiangyou to the city proper.

The tanker collided with a bus on which 21 people were onboard and lost control, subsequently colliding with another car.

The accident caused seven deaths on the spot. One person died in hospital. Nineteen people were injured to varying degrees, and four vehicles involved were damaged, police said.