A 13-car pile up on an expressway in southern China has killed 24 people just before the peak travel season for the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Monday. Nine of the 30 injured in Sunday's crash on the Kaiyang highway in Guangdong province were in serious condition, Xinhua news agency said. The cause of the accident was under investigation, it said without elaborating. A mass movement of people proceeds the first of the three "golden week" holidays in China - Chinese New Year, May Labour Day and National Day on October 1.
This year, Chinese New Year, when hundreds of millions traditionally head home to be with the family, starts on February 9, with the 40-day peak travel season starting on Tuesday.
China has had the world's highest annual road death toll. Traffic accidents killed nearly 107,000 people last year, a result of skyrocketing car demand, poor roads and bad driving.