Five people were confirmed dead and eleven others injured after a road accident in a village in northeast China's Liaoning Province, local police told Xinhua News Agency on Monday.

On Sunday morning, a three-wheeled farm vehicle carrying a group of countrywomen in Lianshan District of Huludao City collided into a village house due to machine failure, and then ran into a ditch nearby.

They were on their way to buy special goods for the coming Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, on Wednesday.

Five people were killed on the spot, with eleven hospitalized in the city. Two of them remain in danger, the police said.

The driver, named Tian, has been detained by police.

In some remote rural areas, three-wheeled farm vehicles are often seen carrying passengers, in violation of traffic rules.

Local traffic police warned that rural people should not take such vehicles, even though it saved money, as they were risking their lives.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2005)