Four people were killed while nine others were injured in a string of hit-and-runs by a car in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, local police said Saturday.

A car ploughed into several pedestrians in a neighborhood in Jingjiang city at 8:27 p.m. Friday, a police officer said. After the incident, the car did not stop but continued the rampage.

The victims were rushed to hospital where four died despite medical treatment, while the nine injured are believed to be in stable condition.

The driver was caught in nearby Taixing city. Police found that he had taken poison in an attempt to commit suicide. He is receiving emergency treatment.

The incident is under investigation.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said that the government should attach more importance to encouraging innovation, optimizing the business environment and raising growth quality and efficiency.

Li made the remarks Thursday in a meeting with experts and entrepreneurs on current economic performance and suggestions about future economic work, according to a press release issued Friday.

After the economy stabilized in the first half, “we should not only have firm confidence, but also be well prepared for dealing with all kinds of difficulties,” Li said.

China should reduce transaction costs and streamline administration, delegate power to lower levels and improve regulation and services, Li said.

The government should also strive to create an internationally competitive business environment in which domestic and foreign companies are treated on an equal basis, the premier added.

China should continue to implement the strategy of innovation-driven development, improve the environment for entrepreneurship and innovation and upgrade the manufacturing and service sectors, Li said.

He also called for more progresses in technology, product upgrading and raising the quality and efficiency of growth.

China’s economy grew 6.9 percent year on year in the first quarter, the fastest pace in six quarters and higher than the government’s annual target of around 6.5 percent.

Q2 economic growth rate will be released on July 17.

“China should consolidate the foundation for the stable economic performance with sound growth momentum,” Li said.

The country will continue to stabilize macroeconomic policies, market expectations and the financial market, by sticking to its proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, taking forward-looking and effective macroeconomic regulation measures, and properly defusing risks, he added.

Efforts will also be made to ensure stable employment, reduce corporate burden, expand effective investment and make consumption play a larger role in economic growth.

The government should make sure that people get the benefits from development by fulfilling the promises of poverty relief, rundown area renovation and pollution control, among others, Li said.

“We should reduce the pains and difficulties in people’s lives, while increase their senses of gain and happiness,” the premier added.

A ceremony was held on July 7 for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge undersea tunnel to mark the completion of the main structure of the world’s longest cross-sea bridge. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is a super large sea-crossing passage, 55 km in length. The most difficult technique is the bridge-island-tunnel main project, which is about 29.6 kilometers long. [Photo/Xinhua]

The main structure of world’s longest sea bridge linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao was completed Friday, the builders said.

It took seven years to build the bridge, which will be open at the end of the year, said Zhu Yongling, director of the management bureau of the bridge.

The main structure measures 29.6 kilometers, consisting of a 22.9-km bridge section and 6.7-km underground tunnel. The bridge’s total length is 55 kilometers.

“The bridge passed all engineering risks, and we will prepare it for public use in a few months,” Zhu said.

Lin Ming, chief engineer of China Communications Construction Company, said they tackled great engineering challenges in building the bridge.

It used 420,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 60 Eiffel Towers, and consumed 1.08 million cubic meters of cement.

Dubbed “the most technologically complicated bridge,” it crosses shipping lanes in the Lingding Ocean.

“We had to use immersed tubes. Due to lack of experience, it took us 96 hours to lay the first tube in the ocean, and many of the engineers and workers hardly slept for four consecutive days,” said Yin Haiqing, a leading engineer.

The bridge management bureau also issued a standard for the quality of cement.

“We needed several sections to go to work simultaneously, so we had 16 cement mixing stations in operation at the same time, and we ensured the cement they produced were of the same standard,” said another engineer Lu Huaying.

Designers also minimized the impact to the environment when building the bridge, which runs water that is home to Chinese white dolphins.

During construction, the number of the dolphins rose from 1,400 in 2009 to 2,100 in 2016, according to the management bureau.

The Y-shaped bridge will cut travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from three hours to just 30 minutes, further integrating cities in the Pearl River Delta, said Wei Dongqing, deputy secretary of the management bureau’s Communist Party Committee.

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) announced Friday that three former senior officials have been charged with violations including taking bribes.

The three officials facing legal action are Wang Min, former Party chief of Jilin and Liaoning provinces, Wu Tianjun, former member of the standing committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Henan Provincial Committee, and Yao Zhongmin, former chairman of the board of supervisors at China Development Bank (CDB).

Luoyang City People’s Procuratorate in central China’s Henan Province filed the charge against Wang with Luoyang Intermediate People’s Court.

According to the indictment, Wang took advantage of his various posts to seek benefits for others, accepted “a huge amount” of bribes, and embezzled public funds while he served as Party chief in Jilin.

Wang, who is notorious for being responsible for serious electoral fraud, was also charged with dereliction of duty. His negligence had resulted in “major losses in the national and people’s interests and had an especially vile social impact,” according to the indictment.

Prosecutors filed the cases of Wu and Yao to the intermediate people’s courts in the cities of Xiangyang, Hubei and Baoding, Hebei respectively, with both indicted for taking advantage of their posts to seek benefits for others and accepting “a huge amount” of bribes.

A speech given by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the gathering to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland has been published by the People’s Publishing House.

The gathering on July 1 also saw the inauguration of the fifth-term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The publication is available at Xinhua Bookstore outlets nationwide, the publisher said Friday.