At least 24 people have died and another 30 have been injured this Wednesday in China after the collapse of a fragment of a highway in Meizhou, in the province of Canton, in the south of the country. The collapse of the asphalt on an elevated section of the road occurred at 2:10 in the morning (local time) and has caused a huge sinkhole, similar to a ravine, 17.9 meters long and with a surface area of 184.3 square meters, through which up to 20 vehicles have rushed, according to state media.
Aerial images broadcast in Chinese media show the bite, which cuts the two lanes in the same direction of an elevated section of the Meida highway; You can also see a couple of huge cranes working in the damaged area, burned and crushed cars at the bottom of the ravine, and a field hospital on the edge of the road. Another image that has circulated on social networks, collected by the BBC, shows a cloud of black smoke rising from the bottom of a crater in which several charred cars can be seen.
Nearly 500 emergency personnel, firefighters, police services and other workers have gone to the scene. The 30 injured have been taken to hospitals and do not have life-threatening injuries, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The highway has been closed and local authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, he said. ChinaDaily. The newspaper Beijing Youth Daily quotes a woman named Yang who tells how a relative was traveling in one of the cars that plunged into the sinkhole. According to this person, the hole is equivalent to a drop about three stories high.
The province of Canton, the most populated in China (about 126 million residents), has spent recent days plagued by inclement weather. Floods last week left at least four dead, a dozen missing and 110,000 displaced, in addition to damaging numerous buildings and homes, and affecting the normal functioning of schools and transportation. Last Saturday the capital, Guangzhou, was hit by a strong tornado that killed five people and injured more than 30.
The provincial authorities warned last Friday that, although they were lowering the emergency level due to the rains and floods, there was still a high risk of mountain torrents and geological disasters in the region, according to the official Xinhua agency.
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