Chinese traffic police tightens check on minivan overloading

BEIJING -- China's Ministry of Public Security on Saturday ordered traffic management authorities to tighten road law enforcement and keep a close check on the offence of minivan overloading.

The ministry's traffic management bureau made the deployment after a road accident in the city of Jiuquan in Northwest China's Gansu province killed seven people and left 10 injured.

A preliminary investigation into the accident revealed that a heavy semi-trailer tractor and an overloaded minivan collided on a road in the county of Jinta, Jiuquan at around 6:50 am Saturday morning.

All the casualties were from the minivan, and the injured are being treated at hospital. The cause of the accident is under further investigation, according to the ministry.

Local traffic management authorities were asked to draw the lesson and strengthen road traffic control, while alerting minivan drivers and passengers to traffic safety risks.