An overloaded minivan collided with a truck in central China on Thursday, killing 13 people and injuring three, traffic police said.

The van, which had a maximum capacity of nine passengers but was carrying 16, hit the rear of the truck while on an expressway in Henan province at 2:40 am (1840 GMT Wednesday), the traffic management bureau of China’s Ministry of Public Security said on social media.

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It was driving on the G40 expressway in the city of Nanyang when it “rear-ended a semi-trailer truck travelling ahead of it”, the bureau said on the Weibo social media platform.

The ministry said it “attached great importance” to the incident, “immediately dispatching a working group to Nanyang led by a traffic management bureau official to direct investigation and handling work.”

Deadly traffic accidents occur frequently in China due to lax safety standards and widespread disorderly driving.

AFP