BEIJING, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Cold weather and heavy snow have struck unusually large swathes of central and eastern China this week, forcing the closure of highways, causing accidents and disrupting flights, state media said on Friday.

The extreme weather had caused 311 million yuan ($43 million) in economic losses to the central provinces of Hubei and Hunan, the People's Daily said.

In Hubei, which has seen its heaviest snow in 16 years, fire engines have carrying drinking water to thousands of residents in the provincial capital, Wuhan, due to frozen pipes.

Some 120,000 cars and 500,000 passengers were stranded in Hunan for days were only fully evacuated on Thursday, the People's Daily said.

Authorities have been handing out food and cold medicine to drivers stuck in Jiujiang in the neighbouring province of Jiangxi after a bridge across China's longest river, the Yangtze, was shut down because of the snow.

There has also been heavy snow in the eastern provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu and the southwestern province of Guizhou.

Hundreds of traffic accidents caused by snow have been reported across the country. Seven people drowned on Sunday in the northeastern province of Liaoning when a minibus, taking a short cut over a frozen reservoir, fell through the ice.

The same day, a college student in Anhui fell on to railway tracks from an overcrowded platform and was killed by a train which took longer to stop due to the snow, Chinese media reported.

A total of 12 expressways and five other major highways remained closed on Thursday, the People's Daily said, warning bad weather could strain the country's rail and air systems as the Chinese New Year travel peak nears.

Snow also blanketed northern China, including the capital Beijing, on Thursday.

More snow will hit at least a dozen provinces in north, northwest, southwest, central and eastern China over the next four days, the National Meteorological Centre forecast on its Web site (http://www.nmc.gov.cn). ($1=7.249 Yuan) (Reporting by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)

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