A highway collapse kills 24 people in southern China

CNN
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Twenty-four people were killed after a highway collapsed in China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

Another state media outlet, CCTV, reported that a section of the highway connecting Meizhou City and Dabu City in Guangdong Province collapsed at around 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday, trapping 18 cars.

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

Videos widely circulated on social media, filmed in the dark, showed a fire burning below where the road was supposed to be and emergency service workers at the scene.

Pictures taken after dawn showed cars piled up at the bottom of the valley.

Xinhua News Agency, citing the Meizhou City Government, reported that thirty people injured in the accident were receiving treatment in hospital and were in stable condition.

State radio said that the Guangdong provincial government sent a rescue force of about 500 people.

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

Southern China has been exposed to heavy rains in recent weeks.

Guangdong Province, an economic powerhouse with a population of 127 million people, experienced widespread flooding, forcing more than 110,000 people to move elsewhere, state media reported, citing the local government.

The New China News Agency (Xinhua) reported on Monday that the floods claimed the lives of at least four people in Guangdong Province, including a rescue worker. She added that at least 10 people are still missing.

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