12 killed in Qian'an county traffic accident

A three-vehicle collision on Wednesday morning in Qian'an, a county under the administration of Songyuan city in Northeast China's Jilin province, killed 11 people and wounded five.

One of the five wounded people later died in hospital, the Qian'an county government said.

The tragedy took place at 5:30 am on Wednesday at the 286 kilometer marker of Highway 503 in Qian'an county.

A white Audi driving west to east scraped against a Antelope car driving east to west. Then the Audi collided with a small pickup truck driving east to west, causing the latter to catch fire.

After the accident, an emergency response mechanism was started at the Jilin provincial, Songyuan municipal and Qian'an county levels.

Lou Xuandong, secretary of the Qian'an county Party committee, Du Bin, county magistrate, Zhang Li, executive county magistrate and other county officials rushed to the scene to coordinate rescue operations, the Qian'an county government said.

Some netizens on the spot said the people in the pickup truck were going to work elsewhere, and the truck was suspected of overloading. This claim has not been officially confirmed.

Qian'an county is trying its best to treat the four wounded and investigate the cause of the accident, the county government said.

The Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security has sent a work team headed by leading bureau officials to Qian'an county to guide accident investigation and handling, according to the bureau's official microblog.