Five people were killed and many others injured in two highway traffic pileups that took place just 30 minutes apart on Thursday morning in east China's Anhui Province.

The area was blanketed in dense fog that reduced visibility to about 50 meters.

Dozens of vehicles were involved in the two accidents, which took place at around 6:30 and 7:00 AM on the highway from Hefei, capital of Anhui, to Xuzhou, a city in Jiangsu Province, said local police.

The injured have been hospitalized but the exact number is still unknown, said police.

An official with the Anhui provincial highway company said, "We closed several main entrances after 4:30 AM and gave warnings to vehicles. But the tragedy still occurred because of the excessive speed of some vehicles."

The highway reopened around 9:30 AM when the wrecked vehicles and debris had been removed, said the official.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2005)