Beizing, In a tragic incident, a long-distance bus has smashed into a guardrail and caught fire in China's central province of Hunanin, in which 35 people have been killed and 11 injured.

On Sunday morning, at around 10:20 a. the bus burst into flames after crashing into a barrier along a highway in Hunan province's Yizhang county.

Earlier reports had said that 21 people were hospitalised.

Two children were among those killed, while four of the 11 people taken to hospital were seriously injured and the driver of the bus, which carried 55 people, had been detained, but the cause of the crash remained unclear.