The accident caused five vehicles, including a motorcycle, to roll off the bridge (file photo)
Beijing China:
An empty cargo ship hit a bridge in southern China on Thursday, causing a partial collapse and killing two people and leaving three missing, authorities and state media reported.
The Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration said the accident caused five vehicles, including a motorcycle, to tumble off the bridge and either fall into the water or into a boat below.
The container ship was traveling between the cities of Foshan and Guangzhou when it hit the Lixinsha Bridge at around 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT), CCTV reported.
The ship “came into contact with … a bridge pillar, causing the road above to collapse,” CCTV reported.
As of 10 a.m., “two people have been rescued, two died, one crew member was slightly injured, and three are missing,” the Guangzhou Bureau said in a statement online.
Video broadcast on CCTV showed rescue workers in orange jumpsuits in dinghies crossing a murky waterway toward a high bridge with a huge gap in the middle.
Other patrol boats flashed their lights around the area where the incident occurred, but the cargo ship appeared to have been towed away.
Photos released by CCTV early on Friday showed the red-and-white vessel wedged diagonally between two pillars of the bridge, with water pouring from severed pipes onto the deck, where it could Saw some fragments.
The Maritime Safety Administration stated that the cause of the accident is under investigation and the rescue work is being carried out in an orderly manner.
Dozens of rescue workers have been sent to the scene, including reinforcements from the nearby Shenzhen science and technology center, CCTV reported.
The broadcaster said the ship’s owner had been “taken under control”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
