Five people were killed and another person was injured in a pile-up of four motor vehicles that occurred on a highway in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Wednesday afternoon, said local police.

The accident occurred around 6:40 p.m. on Wednesday on a highway section about 32 kilometers from the provincial capital Kunming.

Police said a heavy towing vehicle running at a high speed bumped into a car on the sloping section, and knocked into a tanker and a truck before it stopped.

Three people aboard the towing vehicle and two in the car died on the scene. One person on the tanker was injured and was hospitalized.

Investigation into the accident is underway.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2008)