China road accident
At least 21 people were killed in China's Hunan province in a multiple-vehicle accident Friday. In this photo, dated July 19, 2014, firefighters and police officers work next to a burnt-out bus after an explosion and a fire following a traffic accident in Shaoyang, Hunan province. Reuters/Stringer

At least 21 people were killed and 11 injured in a multiple-vehicle accident in China’s northern province of Hunan Friday, according to local reports. A bus collided with a truck and caught fire, causing two other vehicles to crash, Xinhua news reported, citing local officials.

The accident reportedly occurred on the Hunan section of the highway connecting Shanghai and the southern province of Yunnan’s capital Kunming. No details on the victims were released.

The identities of the deceased were being verified through DNA matching, Xinhua news reported.

Every year, at least 200,000 people die in road accidents in China, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report in May. This number is more than four times the death toll from such accidents published by the Chinese government.

The death toll figure was is a drastic increase from the most recent death toll offered by the Chinese government in 2012, which estimated the number of deaths in road accidents to be 60,000. Number of cars and trucks clogging the roads is the primary cause of road accidents in China.

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