Five people were killed and seven others injured in a road
accident involving three motorbikes in south China's Hainan
Province, police said Wednesday.
According to Gui Ruosong, a traffic police chief in Lingao
County, the people involved in the accident on Monday evening were
aged between 14 and 26 and seven of them were under 18. None of
them were wearing helmets and one of the drivers had been
drinking.
Wang Xinjing, a student of Bohou Middle School who suffered
scratches to his head, said he and eight schoolmates and friends
were driving to Bohou on just two motorbikes.
The motorbike Wang was riding on bumped the rear wheel of the
other, which collided head-on with a motorbike carrying three local
villagers traveling in the other direction from the village of
Toutang.
One of the villagers, 21-year-old Wang Yanshan, said many of the
people on the other two bikes had been drinking at a wedding
banquet they had all attended that evening.
Three people were killed instantly and two died from their
injuries in hospital. Five people who suffered serious injuries are
still in hospital.
The motorbike is very popular means of transport in the
countryside of Hainan, but many drivers are unaware of the danger
and seldom wear helmets, said Gui Ruosong.
(Xinhua News Agency, December 5, 2007)