Highway collapse in China kills 36

Photo: China Out Agence France-Presse Twenty vehicles were “trapped” by the collapse of a section of road between the city of Meizhou and Dabu county, in Guangdong province.

France Media Agency in Beijing

Published yesterday at 10:17 p.m.

• Asia

The collapse of a highway in southern China killed 36 people, according to a new report released by state media on Thursday.

At 5:30 a.m. local Thursday (Tuesday evening in Quebec), “36 people died and 30 people were injured,” the New China news agency reported, specifying that the lives of those injured were not in danger.

Twenty vehicles were “trapped” when a section of road between Meizhou City and Dabu County, Guangdong Province, collapsed around 2:10 a.m. Wednesday, involving 54 people in total, Chine Nouvelle said.

Public broadcaster CCTV said the collapse was a “natural geological disaster” that occurred “under the impact of persistent heavy rains”.

Heavy rains have hit the industrial province of Guangdong, which has Guangzhou as its capital, in recent weeks, causing severe flooding and landslides. In recent days, the torrential rains have been much heavier than normal for this time of year just before the monsoon season.

“The intensification of Climate change “increases the likelihood of heavy rains that typically only appear in the summer months,” Yin Zhijie, head of hydrological forecasting at China's Ministry of Water Resources, told China National Radio last month . »