Major tragedy: An aerial view of rescuers working at the site of the collapsed road section of the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou, Guangdong province. — Xinhua
THE death toll from a highway collapse in southern China’s Guangdong province has risen to 48, state media said, as rescue work continued.
Heavy rains caused a stretch of road running from Meizhou city towards Dabu county to cave in around 2.10am on Wednesday, according to Xinhua.
Vehicles careened into the nearly 18m-long gash in the tarmac and plummeted down the steep slope below.
Guangdong, a densely populated industrial powerhouse, has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks.
The storms have been heavier than expected this time of year and are linked to climate change.
China is the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change but has pledged to reduce emissions to net zero by 2060.
“Reporters understand from a press conference held by the city of Meizhou, Guangdong, that the highway collapse disaster... has led to the deaths of 48 people,” Xinhua reported yesterday afternoon.
The toll was up from 36 people yesterday morning.
“In addition, there are three people whose DNA is undergoing further comparison and confirmation,” Xinhua said.
It was not immediately clear whether those three victims were included in the toll of 48.
Xinhua said a further 30 people were injured in the incident but were not in mortal danger.
Footage by state broadcaster CCTV showed excavators digging through the muddy hillside below the collapsed road.
Nearby, a crane lifted charred, wrecked vehicles onto a lorry0.
State media called the road collapse a “natural geological disaster” caused by the “impact of persistent heavy rain”.
President Xi Jinping ordered officials to “go all-out in on-site rescue work and treatment of the injured, and arrange for the management of risks and hidden dangers in a timely manner”, CCTV said yesterday.
Around 500 people have been dispatched to help with the rescue operation, it added.
The provincial government has “mobilised elite specialised forces and gone all out to carry out... search and rescue”, according to Xinhua.
An official notice on Wednesday advised that part of the S12 highway was closed in both directions, requiring detours.
Parts of central and eastern Guangdong have received up to 600mm of rain in the last 10 days, three times the amount normally expected at this time of year, the national weather office said.
Up to 120mm more rain was forecast for the province’s southwestern areas, alongside further downpours across southern China until Sunday.
The conditions “raise the risk of disasters, especially geological disasters, which have a certain lag time”, the weather office said.
The emergency management ministry also warned that persistent rain would make such disasters more likely.
Officials have warned people to plan journeys carefully during the May public holiday, which runs until Sunday.
Massive downpours in Guangdong last month sparked floods that claimed four lives and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people.
And last week, a tornado killed five people when it ripped through the megacity of Guangzhou. — AFP
