China motorway pile-up kills at least 15 after lorry loses control at toll station

Dozens of others injured following crash at toll station in Gansu province

The aftermath of the highway accident in Lanzhou in northwestern China's Gansu province (AP)

More than a dozen people have been killed in a motorway pile-up in north-western China after a lorry lost control.

Dozens of others were injured after the vehicle crashed into a line of cars waiting at a toll station in Gansu province on Saturday night.

Fifteen people are said to have been killed and at least 44 injured following the incident, which is currently under investigation.

According to China's Xinhua news, the lorry driver told authorities his brakes failed as he travelled down a hill towards the toll station.

It comes after 15 people were killed last week when a bus to plunged off a high bridge into China's Yangtze River in the western city of Chongqing.

An eight-second surveillance video released by police of that incident showed the driver and a passenger arguing and grappling with each other in the moments before the bus suddenly veered across oncoming traffic and off the 50m bridge.

Rescue ships used sonar technology to locate the bus on the bottom of the river and the vehicle was lifted out of the water on Wednesday night.