CHANGSHA -- Local authroties said 15 people died and more than 60 others were injured after eight vehicles piled up on an expressway in central China's Hunan Province Friday morning.

The accident occurred at around 4:40 am as three passenger buses and five sedan cars crashed together on a viaduct in Changde City section of the expressway from Changde to Zhangjiajie in Hunan, according to the local expressway administration.

Traffic police said three died after falling off the viaduct, which was dozens of meters above the ground, as they escaped from a smashed coach and searched in darkness.

An initial probe has blamed the ice on the road and overspeeding for causing the accident.