A villager in Jiangxi Province was crushed to death by an excavator on Monday while trying to stop a construction project, which led hundreds of angry villagers to block a highway in protest, a local newspaper reported yesterday.

Xie Shaochun, a resident of Maodian Township in Ganxian County, was killed when he tried to halt construction work on a plot of land Jingda Mould Factory hoped to buy from villagers, Gannan Daily reported yesterday. Construction had started even though the purchase had not been completed, the report said.

Xie's death enraged local villagers. Several hundred of them barricaded State Highway 323, it said.

The crowd dispersed early yesterday morning after the excavator driver and the factory owner were detained by local police.

Ganxian County government has set up a special team to investigate the case and is working on a compensation plan for Xie's family.