Nineteen people have been confirmed dead in Friday's massive vehicle pileups at a fog-shrouded expressway section in east China's Jiangxi Province, according to local traffic police on Saturday.

Seven collisions occurred at about 7:40 a.m. Friday on the expressway in Zhangshu City, leaving 19 dead, 16 injured and 19 vehicles severely damaged, police said.

Witnesses told Xinhua that drivers could not see car lights five meters away amid the dense fog.

Police said seven of the 19 damaged vehicles were trucks. Two of them caught fire after the collisions.

Only one-way traffic on the expressway linking Shanghai in east China with Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, resumed Friday night, according to the traffic police.