4 killed in 53-vehicle pile-up on icy Chinese highway

A pile-up involving 53 vehicles on an icy highway today killed at least four persons in southwest China's Yunnan Province, officials said.
The pile-up occurred in Kunming City, on the freeway that connects Kunming, the provincial capital, with Chuxiong.
Four persons died after falling off a highway bridge when trying to move to another lane, according to the provincial traffic police.
Three people suffered minor injuries in the pile-up.
A preliminary investigation showed that the brutal mash- up was caused due to icy roads.
The freeway was temporarily closed to traffic, with more than 80 people stranded.

Deadly road accidents are common in China, where traffic regulations are often flouted or go unenforced.

China suffered more than 180,000 traffic accidents in 2015, killing 58,000 people, authorities said last year.
Violations of traffic laws were blamed for nearly 90 per cent of accidents that caused deaths or injuries that year.
In August last year, at least 36 people were killed and 13 injured when a bus slammed into a wall at the mouth of an expressway tunnel in northern China, authorities said.