A highway pile-up involving at least 30 cars killed 18 people in eastern China on Wednesday, local authorities said, leaving dramatic scenes of twisted and burnt-out wreckage and a towering column of black smoke.
Grisly footage from the aftermath in the city of Fuyang in Anhui province showed sedans violently crushed to around half their original size under large cargo trucks and blood stains on vehicle doors as the sound of people crying could be heard.