Broken bridge: Ships sailing near the damaged Lixinsha Bridge in Nansha district of Guangzhou. — AP
Five people were killed when an empty cargo ship struck a bridge in southern China, causing part of it to collapse, authorities and state media reported.
The container vessel was travelling between the cities of Foshan and Guangzhou when it rammed into Lixinsha Bridge at around 5.31am, state broadcaster CCTV said.
The boat “came into contact with the bridge pillars, causing the roadway above to collapse”, according to CCTV.
The collision sent five vehicles tumbling off the bridge and either into the water or onto the ship below, the Guangzhou maritime affairs bureau said.
The bureau initially stated that two people had died and three people were missing.
A CCTV reporter later cited the bureau as saying that “all of the three missing people have been found without any vital signs”.
The deceased included the driver of an empty bus, the driver of an electric scooter and three people in a small goods vehicle, CCTV said.
The broadcaster added that the collision occurred “due to improper operations by the crew” of the ship, named the Lianghui 688.
Images on CCTV showed an empty container barge lodged between two columns of the Lixinsha Bridge with part of the bridge’s two-lane road deck missing. All road traffic on the bridge was halted.
City authorities have sent emergency and rescue personnel, including six divers and salvage vessels, to the scene, local media reported.
Local officials told media that nearby residents have been evacuated and that the vessel owner had been detained by officials, according to the Global Times.
Lixinsha Bridge is the main transportation route for residents of Sanmin Island, the report said, adding that an official on the island told reporters that there was still a ferry available for residents to travel.
Work to strengthen the bridge, which provides residents a land connection to the cities of Zhongshan and Shenzhen, began in 2022 because of safety concerns, according to CCTV.
However, the anti-collision and strengthening works have been repeatedly delayed. In the latest extension, the city transportation department has marked end-August this year for completion of the works, the CCTV report added.
Guangzhou, the capital of the prosperous southern Guangdong province near the mouth of the Pearl River, is one of China’s busiest maritime transportation and trading hubs.
Similar accidents have occurred in China before, including in 2012 when a newly-built cruise liner bumped into a bridge in the eastern city of Wenzhou, causing no casualties.
In 2007, nine people were killed when a cargo vessel struck a 1,600m-long bridge in southern Guangdong province, causing a section of it to collapse. — Agencies
