The accident took place at around 1 a.m. on the Shenyang-Haikou expressway, as the truck crossed the fence along the middle of the road and crashed into the passenger bus, causing the latter to overturn as well as the rear-end collision of another two trucks in line, Xinhua news agency reported.

The injured have been sent to hospital.

Preliminary investigation shows that the passenger bus was shuttling between Shanghai and Guanyun county, the city of Lianyungang, Jiangsu.

When the accident occurred, the truck was not overloaded and further investigation is underway.