Five people were confirmed dead in a highway auto crash in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a local official said Tuesday.

The accident occurred at 8:50 a.m. when a Santana sedan and a truck collided head-on on the No. 218 national highway in Yining County, said Gao Cuixia, deputy head of the government of the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili.

The driver and four passengers aboard the sedan were killed at the scene, she said.