BEIJING (AP) — China’s state news agency says a pre-dawn pileup on a southern Chinese expressway has killed 17 people and injured four.

Xinhua News Agency said the accident Saturday in Jiangxi province involved three trucks and a passenger van.

It said the pileup was triggered when a truck rear-ended another vehicle, then flipped into a lane of oncoming traffic.

Twelve people were declared dead at the scene and five others died in a hospital.

Serious traffic accidents are common in China due to lax driving habits, overloaded vehicles and bad road conditions.