17 dead in China crash as holiday travel rush gets underway

A traffic accident in southern China killed 17 people and injured 22 others early Sunday as the annual Lunar New Year holiday travel rush got underway, authorities said.

The accident occurred outside the city of Nanchang in Jiangxi province, according to the local traffic management brigade. It wasn't clear how many vehicles or what types were involved and the cause was under investigation, the brigade said.

Website Jimu News quoted a local resident as saying the victims were mourners from the village of Taoling who had set up a funeral tent on the side of the road, as is common in rural China, and were hit by a passing truck as they were preparing to travel to the local crematorium in the morning.

Several of the victims were her neighbours, the woman — identified only by her surname, Deng — told the site, which is published by the Hubei Daily newspaper based in a neighbouring province.

Jimu quoted another unidentified villager as confirming that version of events, adding that the scene had already been cleaned up. The condition of the injured was not known.

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With the end of most Covid-19 restrictions, the number of such trips is expected to double this year to more than 2 billion on and around the weeklong festival season that starts this year on January 22.