BEIJING –
A traffic accident in southern China killed 17 people and injured 22 others early Sunday morning as the annual Lunar New Year tourist peak was underway, authorities said.
The accident happened outside Nanchang city, Jiangxi province, according to the local traffic management team. It is not clear how many vehicles or types were involved and the cause is under investigation, the brigade said.
Such accidents, often caused by tired drivers and overloaded or poorly maintained vehicles, are common, but stricter regulations have reduced their frequency in recent years.
Enforcement efforts on vehicle conditions, drivers and passenger numbers are more than doubled around the holiday period, China’s most important occasion for family reunions when tens of millions of migrant workers. homecoming.
Once most COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, the number of such trips is expected to double this year to more than 2 billion in and around the week-long festive season starting in January 22 of this year.
