Heavy toll after highway collapse in China

At least 48 people died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday May 1 in the collapse of part of a highway in China, in the province of Guangdong, in the south of the country.

“The collapse of the highway caused the death of 48 people,” declared the Chine Nouvelle agency this Thursday, May 2. A previous report reported 36 deaths.

A “natural geological disaster”

Twenty vehicles were “trapped” by the collapse of a section of road between the city of Meizhou and Dabu county, in Guangdong province, which occurred on Wednesday around 2:10 a.m. local time, involving 54 people in total, Xinhua reported. .

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

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.

“Intensifying climate change ‘increases the likelihood of heavy rains that typically only appear during the summer months,” Yin Zhijie, head of hydrological forecasting at China’s Ministry of Water Resources, said last month.