Heavy snow traps 1,000 vehicles for two days in central China

BEIJING - Heavy snowfall has trapped about 1,000 vehicles on a highway for almost two days in China's central Hubei province, a report said late Sunday.
The snow hit a 20-kilometre (12.4-mile) stretch of National Highway 318 between Hejiaping and Langping townships on Friday night and continued to fall heavily until noon the next day, state-run media quoted local officials as saying.
The local government sent police on Sunday to help ease the situation, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Motorists had been forced to live off provisions from locals, who were sold them food and water for up to three times the usual prices, Lin Hua, one of the stranded drivers, told Xinhua.
A local government official told the news agency that some of the vehicles had broken down because of the cold weather, making the traffic jam even worse.

03/13/2005 16:05 GMT