At least 16 people were killed and 14 others were injured Saturday morning in a highway multiple pileup in east China's Jiangxi Province, local authorities said.

A road maintenance vehicle carrying 25 people was hit by a truck from behind at about 9 a.m. in Suichuan County on an expressway that links Daqing City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong Province, said the information office of Jiangxi provincial government.

The maintenance vehicle fell off the viaduct. The accident caused a five-vehicle pileup.

Local police said all the dead were maintenance workers and the injured were being treated in hospitals in Suizhou and Wan'an counties.

The maintenance vehicle belonged to the highway administration of Jiangxi Communications Department, while the truck was registered in central China's Henan Province.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.