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Corona test in Guizhou province (symbolic image): The accident triggered a storm of indignation
Photo: Yang Wenbin/AP
27 people died in a bus accident on the way to a corona quarantine center in China.
According to police in the rural province of Guizhou in the southwest of the country, the bus with 47 people tipped "on its side" on a highway.
It is the worst road accident in China since the beginning of the year.
The 20 other occupants of the bus were injured, according to police.
They were treated, rescue workers were on site.
The security forces did not provide any further information.
The accident happened in Qiannan District, a poverty-stricken, mountainous and remote part of Guizhou.
The Guizhou regional government confirmed that the bus was to take people from the provincial capital Guiyang to the corona quarantine.
"We're all on this bus"
Reports and photos of the bus circulated on social media in China - sparking a renewed storm of outrage over China's strict zero-Covid policy.
There was also anger at the alleged lack of transparency on the part of the authorities.
Unlike most other regions of the world, China is still trying to contain the corona virus with strict lockdowns.
Most recently, the government had intensified the fight against the pandemic - and sent millions of people into lockdown again.
"We're all on this bus," was a popular comment on the social media app WeChat after the bus accident.
"When will this all stop?" asked another.
The crash quickly became the top topic on China's Twitter-like Weibo on Sunday afternoon, before disappearing from the top 50 trending topics shortly thereafter.
At least some widely shared and angry blogs on the subject were deleted from WeChat shortly after they were published, but some reports and comments initially survived, however many of the more critical ones were removed.
Apr/AFP/Reuters