A highway staffer working to keep cars moving died on duty Monday morning on the icy expressway in central China where thousands had been stranded in their cars after freezing weather turned rain into ice on the ground.

Wang Liguo, 37, was assisting at the scene of an ice-caused car accident, along with six co-workers Monday morning on a section of expressway between Changsha City and Linxiang City in central China's Hunan Province, when a Jetta slid and crashed into the guardrail. The car bounced back and struck Wang, said Zhao Siwei, one of the co-workers who witnessed the accident.

According to Zhao, Wang had been on duty throughout the night before he was killed.

Nearly 10,000 workers and officials have been working around the clock since Saturday to keep traffic moving on the icy expressways in Hunan.

Long-distance buses carrying more than 6,000 passengers were redirected late Sunday after being delayed on the expressway for a day.

The traffic jam in Hunan was caused by the closing of expressways in neighboring Guizhou Province after freezing rain turned into ice as thick as two centimeters on almost all of the province's highways, which had been closed until Monday morning.

More than 7,000 people were left stranded on a road in Guizhou, according to the Guizhou Provincial Department of Transport.

Workers have been spreading salt to de-ice the road and sand to prevent cars from sliding, according to the department.

Also in Guangxi, more than 8,000 people in some 1,500 vehicles stretching about 20 km on an expressway in Nandan County were stranded from late Saturday to Monday afternoon after the road leading to Guizhou had been cut.

Authorities in Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi have sent food, water, quilts and other supplies to the stranded passengers.

Icy rain and a deep freeze wreaked havoc in southern China in 2008, stalling traffic, damaging power facilities, and disrupting people's lives.

However, the China Meteorological Administration predicted Monday that widespread icy rain and freezing temperatures were unlikely to again hit Guizhou and Hunan in the next few days, although low temperature would continue.