Heavy fog caused an 18-vehicles pileup on an expressway in east China's Anhui Province, killing five and injuring eight, local traffic police said on Monday.

"Two trucks crashed into a bus at Jieshou toll station on an expressway linking Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province and Luoyang in central China's Henan Province. The other vehicles involved in the accident then slammed into the first three vehicles," said Wu Jinping, head of the city traffic police.

Visibility was less than 30 meters, police said.

One of the injured suffered serious injuries but is now out of danger, said the local hospital.

The accident caused a traffic jam several kilometers long. Police blamed the accident on the truck drivers who were driving too fast in the heavy fog.

(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2007)