BEIJING: Ten passengers died on Saturday when a bus caught caught fire in China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The agency cited emergency officials in Zhaoyuan county as saying the driver of the bus had detected something wrong and stopped the vehicle before the blaze broke out.

Seven people managed to escape the bus, which had been in operation for only one month.

It was the latest in a series of bus disasters in China.

On November 13, 13 people were killed when a tour bus veered off a bridge and plunged into the sea in the eastern province of Shandong.

In June an unemployed 62-year-old man set fire to a bus in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, killing 27 passengers and injuring 74, state media reported.