Five people were killed and seven others injured in a road accident involving three motorbikes in south China's Hainan Province, police said Wednesday.

According to Gui Ruosong, a traffic police chief in Lingao County, the people involved in the accident on Monday evening were aged between 14 and 26 and seven of them were under 18. None of them were wearing helmets and one of the drivers had been drinking.

Wang Xinjing, a student of Bohou Middle School who suffered scratches to his head, said he and eight schoolmates and friends were driving to Bohou on just two motorbikes.

The motorbike Wang was riding on bumped the rear wheel of the other, which collided head-on with a motorbike carrying three local villagers traveling in the other direction from the village of Toutang.

One of the villagers, 21-year-old Wang Yanshan, said many of the people on the other two bikes had been drinking at a wedding banquet they had all attended that evening.

Three people were killed instantly and two died from their injuries in hospital. Five people who suffered serious injuries are still in hospital.

The motorbike is very popular means of transport in the countryside of Hainan, but many drivers are unaware of the danger and seldom wear helmets, said Gui Ruosong.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 5, 2007)