Sporadic traffic accidents occurred during the on-going National Day holiday period, ushering in more efforts to safeguard tourists' safety when they are traveling around the nation.

Three people have been killed by traffic accidents in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, and two passengers were killed in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province on Friday.

The overall traffic situation in the country is basically clear in the first three days of the week-long holiday, while several accidents have happened in some regions, a traffic authority of the Ministry of Public Security was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying on Friday.

Traffic accidents have respectively claimed five lives in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, another five in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, and one in Haikou of south China's Hainan Province on Wednesday.

One tourist guide has been killed and five tourists were seriously injured in a traffic accident which happened on Wednesday morning on the expressway from Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, to Shanghai.

All of the injured are in stable condition presently, after emergency medical treatment in a nearby hospital. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, Xinhua said on Friday.

The Ministry of Public Security has issued an emergency notice, asking all of its branches to be more vigilant in keeping the normal amount of traffic in various areas, especially in major scenic spots, during the holidays.

In another development, the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has sent four supervision groups to eight popular scenic spots to inspect the safety situations in those areas during the week-long holiday.

These groups have carefully examined 12 cableways on Yellow Mountain of east China's Anhui Province and other tourist sites, and some resort facilities in areas such as south China's Shenzhen and southwest China's Chengdu.

The situations in those large-scale tourism spots are quite good, according to reports from these inspection groups, China News Service reported on Friday.

However, there are some problems, such as poor-quality safety management and equipment maintenance at small or medium-sized tourist attractions.

"We asked people who are responsible for these problems to rectify and improve their safety standards immediately. Otherwise, these spots will be punished, and could even be closed, in the name of ensuring the safety of tourists," said Wu Jinsheng, an official from the administration.

(China Daily October 4, 2003)