Survivors struggle with horrible memories

Wei Xuemei, one of the three survivors of the deadly accident in Shaanxi province on Sunday, said the experience was like a nightmare.

The 27-year-old Sichuan native said she only escaped death with the help of the driver.

"I was knocked down to the ground after the collision. I climbed out of the compartment, which was full of smoke, through a broken window with the help of the bus driver who pushed me," Wei, who was seriously injured, recalled from her hospital ward.

Wang Xianze, of Chongqing, who was injured in the deadly road accident in Yan'an, Shaanxi province, on Sunday, receives treatment at Jingjing Central Hospital in Shaanxi's Jingbian county. [Photo/Xinhua]

Wei said that she could not have escaped if the driver had not helped her. "But his leg was trapped and he couldn't escape," the woman said with tears.

Wei was immediately taken away by several people from vehicles behind the bus, which was burning so violently that no one could go near it to rescue others.

Zhang Shixiong, a 42-year-old resident of Hohhot, another survivor with serious injuries, said his bed was also behind the bus driver and he escaped through the broken window after Wei.

"I tried to pull a girl next to me when I crawled out of the window, but unfortunately I failed to save her," he said.

According to the hospital, 52 percent of Zhang's skin and 35 percent of Wei's skin was burned, and the two survivors also suffered respiratory damage. Neither is out of danger.

The last survivor, Wang Xianze, was only slightly injured on his leg, and he received medical treatment at the hospital.

"My bed was at end of the bus and I forced opened the window and jumped out before the fire spread to the end of the bus," said the 50-year-old Wang from Chongqing.

Wang recalled seeing six university students, four female and two male, get on the sleeper bus before him in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, before it left at about 4 pm on Sunday.

"I knew they were university students from their clothes and way of talking. The vigor of their youth and happiness impressed me deeply. Unfortunately, they were all killed," Wang said.