Overhanging tree branches that struck a tour bus may have led it to crash, killing two Hong Kong tourists, in Jilin province, tour members said yesterday.
A man, 42, and a 60-year-old woman died after the coach ran into a truck carrying corn near Yushu wile it was heading from Harbin in Heilongjiang to Jilin on Friday.
Thirty-seven Hongkongers were on the sixth day of an eight-day Wing On Travel tour of three northeastern provinces. The bus also carried a guide from the mainland and another from Hong Kong.
Passenger Chan Chun-ho, who suffered a head injury, said in Jilin that the coach was not going fast, but the driver might have been distracted by tree branches striking the top of the coach just before the accident. 'The driver might have looked up and not seen the truck, which suddenly appeared before the collision,' he said.
A woman tour member agreed that she saw dangling branches.
However, police in Jilin said an investigation showed the coach driver had swerved to avoid a dog.
After hitting the truck, the coach plunged down a slope and landed on its side.
