BEIJING — A slick of rice wine spilled from a truck caused a traffic accident Friday that killed 12 people in central China, authorities said.

A bus following the truck overturned on the slippery road, and another freight truck then crashed into the bus shortly after midnight, said the Xinxian county government in Henan province.

Nine people were killed at the scene and three more died in hospital, the Xinxian government said on its website. Nineteen other people were hospitalized, including two people with serious injuries.

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

The accident took place at Xinyang, Henan, on the Daqing-Guangzhou expressway.