Thirteen people were confirmed dead and three others injured after an overloaded passenger van rear-ended a semi-trailer truck in Henan province early on Thursday, according to officials there.

The crash took place at around 2.40am on an expressway section in Nanyang City.

It was driving on the G40 expressway when it "rear-ended a semi-trailer truck travelling ahead of it", the traffic management bureau of the Ministry of Public Security said on the Weibo social media platform.

The nine-seater passenger van carried 16 people at the time.

The ministry said it attached great importance to the incident, adding it immediately dispatched a working group to Nanyang led by a traffic management bureau official to direct investigation and handling work. (Xinhua & AFP)


Edited by Aaron Tam