Seven people were killed and eight seriously injured in a three-bus collision in Gaoyou, in Jiangsu province, on Sunday.

A packed coach and two funeral buses collided on the highway connecting Huai'an and Jiangdu. The coach hit the second funeral bus before coming to a halt.

A passenger surnamed Chen who was sitting on the back seat of the coach when the collision occurred recalls with horror what he witnessed at the time of the crash.

"I heard a big explosion and saw stars," he said.

"The driver, conductor and three passengers were hurled¹ through the windshield."

Four people were killed instantly and three died soon after arriving at the hospital.

More than 60 passengers were injured, eight of them seriously.

The injured were immediately taken to hospitals in Gaoyou, about 15 km from the scene

An orthopaedist surnamed Zhu at the Gaoyou People's hospital, which received 25 injured passengers, said the hospital sent four ambulances and had the best doctors on hand to treat the injured.

"Two badly injured passengers died soon after they arrived at the hospital and five or six are still in critical condition," Zhu said.

"Many suffered fractures, and certain passengers sustained cerebral² injury and thoracic trauma³."

Cui Jiamin, a spokesman for the Yangzhou city government, said the cause of the incident is still under investigation⁴.