Wu Ping, vice-president of Zhejiang University, died in a car accident on Thursday morning that may have been caused by fatigue.

Wu, 57, was driving on a highway in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang province, at 6 am. He was changing lanes to exit the highway when the accident happened.

Surveillance footage showed that Wu was in the left lane, but almost missed the exit. A truck loaded with logs hit Wu's car as it crossed to the right, crashing it into a fence.

The truck overturned, and the driver was injured. Wu died at the scene.

A colleague of Wu's who asked to remain anonymous said Wu had worked until 3 am the morning of the accident.

“He was rushing back to the university to attend a meeting,” he said.

The colleague attributed the accident to Wu's lack of sleep.

“We guess he might discovered that he was about to miss the exit and changed lanes suddenly, failing to notice the truck behind his car.

“He was a diligent man who often worked very late,” the man said.

The traffic police department of Hangzhou said the accident is still under investigation.