The Ministry of Public Security has sent a work team to Nanyang, Henan province, to guide the investigation and follow-up handling of a highway crash that killed 13 people and injured three early Thursday.

The accident occurred at around 2:40 am on the Maoji section of the G40 Shanghai-Xi'an Expressway in Tongbai county, Nanyang, when an overloaded passenger van rear-ended a semi-trailer truck.

The van was designed to carry nine people but had 16 people on board at the time of the crash, according to the ministry.

The work team is led by officials from the ministry's traffic management bureau.