Photo taken on Feb 9, 2014 shows the scene of a car accident on Lichuan section of Huyu (Shanghai-Chongqing) Expressway in central China's Hubei province. (Xinhua/He Hanqiu)
China has been at the receiving end of a bitter cold front that has seen a drop in temperatures and heavy snowfall across large parts of the country. Weather authorities have had to issue snow warnings in many areas as a result.
Traffic woes across China. In East China's Jiangxi province, heavy snow has forced over 70 bus routes to close, leaving about 2,000 passengers stranded. A number of accidents have been reported in the provincial capital of Nanchang. A handful of trains have also been delayed.
In neighboring Hunan province, sleet has trapped over 200 cars on a major road in the city of Zhangjiajie. The line of vehicles stretching far back as two kilometers at one point.
"All of the local traffic policemen have been called back from leave. We are also working with other emergency workers to sprinkle salt on the roads. Now this road has resumed service." Zhangjiajie City's Traffic officer Luo Jingsong said.
In the central province of Hubei, several car accidents have forced a major expressway to close for 12 hours, stranding thousands of vehicles. Hundreds of passengers had to sleep in a tunnel in the middle of the freeze. Similar situations were seen in Henan province of central China. 30 passengers were rescued after being trapped by sleet on a slope for a whole night.
"Given my wife and my kid were all on that bus, I was quite nervous. So I turned to weibo for my family and everyone else on that bus. " Passenger Xue Zhaohui said.
In Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a blizzard stranded nearly 1,000 people on a major road along with over two hundred cars, triggering a massive rescue effort.
By late Sunday, all the people had been transferred to safe places and most cars had been pulled out of snow drifts. Weather forecasters say a new round of snow is expected to hit most areas of the country on Wednesday.
Copyright ©1999-2018
Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.