Three students were killed in a motorcycles accident after they were chased by police motorcycles for more than 10 minutes in Sanya, Hainan Province on Monday morning.

A middle-aged shop owner near where the accident occurred told the website chinanews.com that around 10 am on Monday, three young people riding a motorcycle at about 70 kilometers per hour passed her shop and were followed by a police motorcycle.

The woman said the police motorcycle was flashing its emergency light and sounding its siren as it passed.

Soon after the motorcycles passed her shop, a truck loaded with stones turned right into the path of the motorcycle sending the young people into a wooded area. Two died on the spot and one died in hospital.

Luo Yongdi, a 20-year-old student, was the driver of the motorcycle was originally carrying three passengers along Fenghuang Road, said Su Zhen  who was told by Luo to get off the motorcycle so it could go faster.

Su said that he was wearing earphones and only when Luo began to speed up did he discover that two police motorcycles were behind them.

After Luo ordered Su to jump off the motorcycle he received a call on his cell phone. "Su Ying (another motorcycle passenger) called me to say the police were still chasing them and he asked me to take a car home. About six minutes later, when I tried to call Su Ying, the call wouldn't go through," said Su Zhen.

The uncle of 17-year-old Su Ying said when nearby villagers found his nephew's mobile phone they called him. By the time he arrived the police had already finished cleaning up the crash site.

The relatives of Luo Yongdi and Li Tianweng, who were both 18-year-old high school students, said they weren't informed of their deaths until 4 pm. Later that night they were shown surveillance video of the young people on the motorcycle being chased at high speeds by police on a motorcycle.

The police said the case is still under investigation.

Global Times