Two elite police officers died and seven others were reportedly injured after their vehicle collided with a private car in the Southern China on Thursday.

The Public Security Bureau in Ziyang, Sichuan province confirmed that 13 officers from their security team were being driven to a location in a minivan when the vehicle collided with a private car at an intersection, according to West China City newspaper.

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Two of the injured are reported to be in critical condition, while the others have been released from the hospital. Fortunately, the driver of the private car was able to escape with only minor injuries.

China is one of the most vehicle accidents-prone countries in the world with a total of more than 200,000 fatalities annually - the number of deaths includes both deaths from collisions and pedestrian deaths. 

Bernard Schwartlander of The World Health Organization released a statement on Wednesday stating that "There is much more that needs to be done to spur the adoption measures in order to properly raise road safety, especially with respect to the young innocent lives killed every year." 

The World Health Organization's estimated the number of road safety deaths in 2015 is a lot higher than the estimated numbers they released in 2012, which was 60,000. 

One of the main contributing factors is said to be the fact that vehicles are now treated as a status symbol and that there are now more than 70 million cars travelling along the roads in China.

Tagscollision, SWAT, South China, accident