A slick of rice wine spilled from a truck is thought to have caused a traffic accident that killed 12 people in central China.

Xinxian country government in Henan province said a bus overturned on a road that had been made slippery because of the rice wine spillage. A freight truck then crashed into the bus.

The county government said nine people were killed at the scene and three more died in hospital. Nineteen other people were taken to hospital.

Police have detained the drivers of the bus and the truck carrying the rice wine.