XI'AN - A court in northwest China on Friday upheld the death penalty for a truck driver who was convicted of killing four teenage students in a hit-and-run accident in 2009.

The Shaanxi Provincial Higher People's Court rejected Wang Shuangwa's appeal against the verdict of the first trial handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Xi'an, the provincial capital, in November last year.

Wang's overloaded truck hit five junior high school students on their way to school in Chang'an District in the suburbs of Xi'an early in the morning on February 10, 2009, killing four and seriously injuring one, according to the courts.

Wang had earlier stated that he did not notice the collision, but court judges rejected his defense and said that instead of checking on the victims, he fled the scene and destroyed all evidence by changing the tires and cleaning up the blood off the vehicle.

Shortly after the hit-and-run, Wang fled to Xinjiang in the far west, but he surrendered himself five days later in wake of massive police manhunt.