A total of 5,146 people were killed in highway accidents in South China's Guangdong Province in the first six months of this year, up 7.66 percent from the same period last year.

Information from the transportation section of the provincial public security bureau said that there were 29,263 highway accidents from January to June, a rise of 16.36 percent.

And 33,186 people were also injured in these highway accidents, up 10.93 percent. Direct economic losses caused by the accidents amounted to 122 million yuan (US$14.7 million), up 25 percent.

Most of the fatal highway accidents took place in the economically developed Pearl River Delta, with Guangzhou, the provincial capital, being placed at the top by highway death toll, and Shenzhen, a boomtown facing Hong Kong across a river, being ranked the third, said the information.

Guangdong Province is one of China's economic powerhouses and also one of the country's leading foreign trade players.

Source: Xinhua