Two road accidents killed 38 people and injured 18 others Friday in east China provinces, local authorities said.

Eighteen people were confirmed dead and seven others were hospitalized after a bus heading for Quanzhou city in Fujian Province overturned on a freeway and fell into a ditch.

The accident was reported by witnesses to the Nanping City Public Security Bureau at 4:34 p.m., according to the Nanping City Government.

The bus, carrying 25 passengers, was owned by a Fujian transportation service company. It left Wannian in neighboring Jiangxi Province, and was heading for Shishi, a coastal city in Quanzhou on the east China coast.

Witnesses said the bus veered off the road while traveling on a freeway connecting Pucheng and Nanping, both inside Fujian. It then plunged into the ditch on the right side of the road.

All the injured were rushed to hospital and the remains of the dead were sent to a funeral home as of 6:10 p.m., the local government said.

Rescuers were driving three cranes to carry the bus out of the ditch, but failed as of 10:30 p.m. as the bus was heavy and far from the road.

In a separate accident, 20 people died and 11 others were injured in Jiangxi Province Friday afternoon when a speeding bus broke through the fence dividing an expressway and collided with two trucks in Fengcheng City, said police with Jiangxi Public Security Department.

The bus was carrying 31 people, most of whom were tourists returning to Xinyu City after their tour, according to the department.

It was raining and the driver did not operate the bus correctly, the department added.

Senior provincial officials arrived at the site to direct rescue operations.

Traffic on the expressway resumed two hours after the accident.

On Wednesday, six people were killed and 13 others injured after a truck carrying opera players fell into the valley in Nanping City, Fujian. The actors from central China's Hubei Province were on the way to a performance in Fujian, police said.

Police were investigating the causes of the accidents.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2009)