16 killed and 66 injured in multi-vehicle collision on highway in China's Hunan province

At least 16 people died in a chain of road accidents that occurred on a highway in central China's Hunan Province on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua reported citing local authorities. The deadly accidents involved a whopping 49 vehicles that consecutively collided at around 5 pm local time on Saturday on the Xuchang-Guangzhou highway, as per Hunan’s highway traffic police department.

Apart from the 16 casualties, 66 people were also wounded, out of which eight sustained critical injuries and now remain in stable condition at a local hospital. "The injured were promptly sent to hospital for thorough treatment, including eight whose injuries were relatively severe, whose vital signs are currently stable," the traffic police said, according to TRT World. 

Some vehicles 'caught fire', traffic police says

The Ministry of Emergency Management has deployed a team to handle the scene of the accidents, with an investigation currently underway. According to China Daily, the back-to-back accidents occurred within a span of 10 minutes, "with some vehicles catching on fire,” according to a statement by the traffic police.

Soon after, a team from the Ministry of Emergency Management led by chief engineer Li Wanchun rushed to the scene in Changsha to initiate rescue operations. 182 firefighters were dispatched to do so. Emergency management minister Wang Xiangxi called for authorities to channel all efforts into helping the victims of the accident. He also demanded that a complete probe into the matter must be conducted to determine the cause and avoid such accidents in the future.