Highway collapse kills 24 people in southern China

CNN
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Twenty-four people were killed in a highway collapse in China’s Guangdong province on Wednesday, according to Chinese state media Xinhua.

A section of the highway linking the cities of Meizhou and Dapu, in Guangdong province, collapsed around 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday, leaving 18 cars stranded, another state media outlet, CCTV, reported.

Officials told Xinhua that 184.3 square meters of the highway disintegrated.

Videos widely shared on social media, shot in the dark, showed a fire raging beneath where the road was and emergency workers at the scene.

Images taken after daybreak showed cars piled up at the bottom of a ravine.

Thirty people injured in the accident are being treated in hospital and are in stable condition, according to the Xinhua report citing the Meizhou city government.

The Guangdong provincial government dispatched a relief force of around 500 people, state broadcaster said.

Rescue efforts were still underway, according to the local police update.

Southern China has been pelted by heavy rains in recent weeks.

Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse home to 127 million people, experienced widespread flooding, which forced more than 110,000 people to relocate, state media reported, citing the local government.

Floods have killed at least four people in Guangdong, including a rescue worker, the official Xinhua news agency reported Monday. At least 10 people are still missing, the statement added.

Nectar Gan of CNN in Hong Kong contributed to this report.