XI'AN, Dec. 29 -- Three people in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Tuesday got terms ranging from probation to four years in prison for a fatal road accident that killed 35 people in May.

A bus carrying 46 passengers plunged 30 meters into a ravine in Chunhua county on May 15, leaving 35 dead and 11 injured. The bus, belonging to a company in the provincial capital of Xi'an, was found to be operating illegally.

A district court of Xi'an said that Han Xiaofeng, an official with a transportation management station of the city, and two of his subordinates, Sun Xiaojun and Zhang Gang, were responsible for the accident since they had failed to perform their duty of seizing the bus and ordering an end to its illegal operation.

Han and Sun were sentenced to four and three years in prison respectively, and Zhang was sentenced to three years suspended for three years.