An expressway pileup killed six people, injured 32 and left one missing in the northern part of Guangdong on Saturday.

The accident occurred at 2:00 p.m. when a truck running northbound on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway bumped into the rear of a bus near Ruyuan County, Shaoguan City, resulting in a pileup of nine buses and three cars.

Five people died on impact, another person died in the hospital, and doctors said two of the 32 injured are in serious condition.

Police investigations found the accidents were caused by failure of brake control and from overloaded vehicles. ????

The cold weather, which is around negative 2-4 degrees Celsius in Shaoguan City, also caused a 10-kilometer-long car jam on the expressway's Shaoguan section, forcing traffic police to implement an emergency traffic plan to divert the flow of traffic.

Covered in dense fog, the visibility in some areas of Shaoguan was only 10-20 meters.

According to the emergency plan, traffic police are required to control the number of passing vehicles to 20 at one time, or to let them pass in 10-minute intervals when the visibility is only 50 to 100 meters.

If the visibility is below 20 meters, police cars will be employed to restrict speed or close the expressway in some or all sections.

Editor: Yan