19 dead in highway collapses and trapping 18 vehicles in Guangdong, China

30 people were admitted to hospital (file photo)

Beijing:

At least 19 people died when part of a highway collapsed on Wednesday in southern China’s Guangdong province, state media reported.

State broadcaster CCTV said a stretch of road between Meizhou city and Dabu county in Guangdong province collapsed at around 2:10 a.m. (6:10 p.m. GMT Tuesday).

The incident caused 18 vehicles to become stuck and involved a total of 49 people, CCTV said.

As of 11:45 am, “19 people were confirmed dead and 30 are receiving full emergency care in hospital,” according to the broadcaster.

It added that the lives of those hospitalized were “not currently at risk” but did not specify the injuries.

Images shared on social media showed a smoking pile of destroyed vehicles at the bottom of a deep, muddy pit where the highway once ran.

Red fire engines and people in high-visibility vests gathered around a cordon erected just meters from where the road gave way.

Other clips apparently filmed before dawn showed flames emanating from the well.

“You can’t go any further,” a man is heard saying in a video, adding that parts of the road have caved in.

AFP was unable to immediately verify the videos.

Authorities sent around 500 people to the site to help with the rescue operation, CCTV reported.

They come from departments that deal with public safety, emergency response, firefighting and mine rescue, according to the broadcaster.

Local authorities said in a statement that part of the S12 highway was closed in both directions and ordered drivers to take detours.

Disaster sequence

Although the cause of Wednesday’s road collapse has not yet been specified, the incident is the latest in a series of deadly disasters to hit Guangdong in recent weeks.

The province – a densely populated industrial powerhouse – was hit by heavy rains that caused deadly flooding in some areas.

And a whirling tornado killed five people when it hit the megacity of Guangzhou last week.

Much of China’s massive road network spans rugged terrain and extreme climates.

Road accidents are also common in the country due to the lack of strict safety controls.

In March, 14 people died and another 37 were injured after a bus crashed into an expressway tunnel in northern Shanxi province.

Sixteen died in a vehicle accident in the central province of Hunan in February last year, a month after 19 died in a crash in the eastern province of Jiangxi.

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)