GUIYANG - Three people were dead and three others were injured after a highway pile-up involving 12 vehicles on Monday morning in Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Authorities in Pingba County said the accidents happened at around 6 am in the Pingba section of the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway.

Among the dead, two were killed in the crashes and another died after accidentally falling off a road bridge.

Rescuers said the road was icy with low visibility Monday morning, and it took two hours for them to pull two injured persons out of the crashed vehicles.

An investigation into the accidents is under way.