Highway collapse kills 19 people in southern China

Nineteen people have been killed after a highway collapsed in China’s Guangdong province on Wednesday, according to the country’s state broadcaster, CCTV.

A section of the express highway connecting Meizhou City and Dapu City in Guangdong Province collapsed at around 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday, leaving eighteen cars trapped, CCTV reported.

Widely circulated social media videos shot in darkness showed a raging fire beneath where the road would have been and emergency service workers at the scene.

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

As of 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, 30 people were receiving medical care in hospitals, and they were “without immediate risk,” CCTV said without specifying their injuries.

The Guangdong provincial government had dispatched a rescue force of approximately 500 people, the state broadcaster said.

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

Southern China has been bombarded with heavy rain in recent weeks.

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

The floods have killed at least four people in Guangdong, including a rescue worker, state news agency Xinhua reported Monday. At least 10 people remain missing, it added.