WUHAN - Five people were confirmed dead in a pile-up accident Wednesday morning on a fog-shrouded highway in Central China's Hubei province, another two being hospitalized, a local transportation bureau said.

A bus collided with a truck at about 8:30 am on the highway between Wuhan and Yichang, two major cities in Hubei. With visibility hampered by a heavy fog, two trucks following behind also crashed, escalating the pile-up to a subsequent involvement of 40 vehicles.

The highway has still been closed one way while local traffic police were clearing up the accident site.