HEFEI - Nine people died and 27 others were injured after a bus rear-ended a cement-mixing truck in East China's Anhui Province Sunday afternoon, according to sources with the local emergency center.

The accident occurred at around 3 pm on National Highway 205, when a bus carrying 36 people bound for the city of Ma'anshan from neighboring Jiangsu Province rammed into a stopped cement mixer.

Rescuers retrieved six bodies from the bus at the scene, and three people died after medical treatments failed.

The bus driver is listed among the casualties.

Another 27 people were injured, including 13 in critical condition and undergoing operations on Sunday.

The driver of the truck was not injured.

A representative from the bus company in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, claimed that the vehicle was not overloaded.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.