YAN'AN - -- The death toll from an expressway collision between a bus and a tanker in northwest China has risen to 36, local police said Sunday.

The accident happened at around 2 am in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, when a double-decker sleeper bus crashed into a methanol-loaded tanker and caught fire.

Only three out of the 39 people on board the bus survived, but they all suffered injuries. The driver of the bus also died, police said.

The 39-seat bus was full at the time of the crash, which occurred about 200 meters from Huaziping service station on the Baotou-Maoming expressway linking northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province in the south.

The driver and passenger of the tanker, who were not hurt, were taken into police custody, said officials with the Yan'an municipal government.

The bus was registered in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region while the tanker in central China's Henan Province.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

36 people were killed early Sunday morning after a collision between a bus and a methanol-loaded tanker in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, local police said. [Photo/Xinhua]