Nine people were killed and 52 others were injured in a pile-up involving four motor vehicles on a highway in central China's Hunan Province in the early hours of Monday, said local police.

The accident occurred at 3:28?AM on Monday on a section of highway in Hengyang County.

Police said a coach, heading from southern Guangdong to Loudi in Hunan, suddenly skidded and bumped into a heavy goods vehicle ahead of it. Another coach, traveling from eastern Fujian Province to Shaodong County in Hunan, crashed into the truck, which was in turn rammed by a van from behind.

Three people died at the scene of the accident and six others died later in hospital. The injured were receiving treatment in local hospitals.

All the four vehicles were registered in Hunan, said the police, who did not reveal how many people were on board the vehicles.

Traffic on the highway had returned to normal by 1:00 p.m. Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)