BEIJING: One person died during a highway pile-up involving about 200 vehicles in central China’s Zhengzhou city, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday (Dec 28), with images of the accident showing scenes of chaos.
Aerial pictures showed passenger cars, vans and lorries – many of which had smashed into one another – piled up on one section of the highway in dense fog.
Other viral videos posted online showed the mangled remains of several vehicles that had crashed into others.
The accident occurred due to low visibility from fog, state media reported.
“On Wednesday morning, a sudden build-up of fog occurred at the Yellow River Bridge in Zhengzhou, which caused a traffic accident involving the collision of multiple vehicles,” CCTV cited Zhengzhou authorities as saying, adding that one person died as a result.
Many of the injured were trapped in their vehicles and the fire department sent 11 fire trucks and 66 fire rescue personnel to help, state media reported.
“This is too scary. Full of people here, I don’t think we can get off the bridge,” one person can be heard saying in one video clip.
Visibility in many areas was less than 500m on Wednesday morning and down to 200m at times, the meteorological service said.
Road accidents are common in China due to a lack of strict safety controls. In September, 27 passengers died after a bus transporting them to COVID-19 quarantine facilities in Guizhou province flipped over on a motorway.
