The mainland tourists who survived a bus accident during their tour in Taiwan donated NT$60,000 ($2,000) on July 8 for a local bus driver who died in the crash, Taiwan media reported.

The 50-year-old driver, Shih Chun-hou, attempted to move the bus into the inner lane to stop before the bus overturned on July 7 on a highway in northern Taiwan's Hsinchu city, according to local media reports.

The accident injured 39 people on board, including 37 tourists from Harbin of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

Police said the cause of the accident is under investigation. Various reports said the bus had rolled over after its rear left tire had blown out.

"Thanks to the driver. Without the efforts he made on the dangerous occasion, all the passengers may have lost their lives," said Ye Yun, the mainland tour guide of the group, who survived the accident.

The money donated by the mainland tourists was given to the driver's wife on Sunday to help make arrangements for his funeral.

Li Huiying, one of the mainland tourists, said that no matter what the cause of the accident was, the driver had done his best in the last minutes of his life.