19 killed, 20 injured as truck hits funeral procession in China

At least 19 people were killed and 20 others injured on Sunday when a truck hit a funeral procession in eastern Chinas Jiangxi Province, authorities said.

A brief report carried by the official media here said that the “major road traffic accident” took place in Nanchang County and the injured were taken to hospital. At least 19 people were killed and 20 others injured in the accident, reports said.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

Reports from the local media said the accident took place when a truck hit a funeral procession.

The accident took place as China lifted all restrictions of zero-covid policy and opened internal and external travel, coinciding with the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival.

The festival is due to be held from January 22. The 40-day Chunyun or Spring Festival travel rush, the worlds largest human migration, is expected to see about 2.09 billion passenger trips this year, up 99.5 per cent from the 2022 level.

The passenger volume has rapidly scaled up following the countrys optimised epidemic response and amid the release of pent-up demand for travel, Chinas Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on Friday.

Though the official holiday lasts about a week from January 22, Chunyun in 2023 will last 40 days from January 7 until February 15, it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)