(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-30 19:28

BEIJING -- Traffic is slowly getting better in central and southern Chinese provinces hit by the worst winter weather in five decades. Thousands of passengers, however, are still trapped on icy highways, the Ministry of Public Security said Wednesday.

Workers and soldiers clean up the ice and snow on a section of the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway in Central China's Hunan Province, January 30, 2008. About 6,400 vehicles and more than 10,000 passengers are still stranded on the expressway due to continuous snow and sleet. [Xinhua]

"The situation is improving based on information sent from the provinces," said ministry spokesman Wu Heping at a press conference. "One of the key tasks now is to reopen the expressway linking Beijing with Zhuhai City in the southern Guangdong Province."

The north-south trunk road remained blocked at several sections.

Disasters caused by prolonged low temperature, icy rain and heavy snow have killed 38 people in China since January 10, including three electricians who fell from a collapsed power pylon while working to restore power supply cut off by heavy snow, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Wednesday.

Altogether 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been affected, the Ministry said.

The expressway section running through the central Hunan Province has 116 km of frozen road and vehicles are moving at a speed of five km an hour, Wu said.

"So far, about 6,400 vehicles with more than 10,000 passengers are still on the road," he said.

The whole of Hunan has been gearing up to restore traffic. More than 100,000 soldiers and armed policemen, 20,000 government officials, 7,000 police, 2,400 transport officials and 40,000 citizens are working to de-ice the expressway.

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"But we shall prepare for tougher situations as the weather forecast says it will continue raining and snowing for the next seven days in Hunan," Wu said.

The expressway section in Hubei Province north of Hunan has witnessed about 5,000 vehicles moving slowly over a distance of 25 km.

Meanwhile, the expressway in Guangdong south of Hunan has about a 20-km stretch of frozen surface. Vehicles heading south on the expressway have begun moving forward at a snail's pace while the lanes heading north remain closed. They are expected to reopen on Wednesday.

Along the highway linking the eastern Anhui Province with neighboring Zhejiang Province, about 6,000 vehicles and more than 20,000 people are still trapped, Wu said.

In the eastern Jiangxi Province, about 8,000 vehicles and 20,000 people are stranded along the highway linking its two major cities, Nanchang and Jiujiang.

Traffic in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been totally restored, Wu said.

Unexpected freezing weather, heavy snow, sleet and ice rain hit 14 provinces in central and south China in the past week. More than 77.8 million people had been affected by Monday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.