Huge Car Pileup Leaves 17 People Dead In China

A crash involving huge highway pileup of  56 vehicles led to the death of 17 people and injured 37 people in northeastern China on Monday. According to state news agency Xinhua, the crash happened on the Beijing-Kunming highway in China's Shanxi province around 9 a.m just after serious snow and rainfall.

"The fog was heavy, so I drove slowly when I exit the tunnel," one driver involved in the incident told CCTV. "I saw two vehicles horizontally blocking the road, so I stepped on the brake."

Firefighters told CCTV that when they arrived they fought a blaze at the front of the pileup.

"While some of us manned the hoses, a chief officer led the rescue efforts of trapped personnel," firefighter Wang Ruobing said.

A day after the collision the highway was still closed to traffic, according to the Shanxi Traffic Control Center and an investigation to what led to the crash is underway.