4 dead in expressway flyover collapse in China’s Hubei province
- Three trucks, including a heavily overloaded freight vehicle, were on the bridge at the time, traffic authorities say
- 500-metre section of single-pillar structure comes down, crushing car below
Four people died and eight others were injured after a 500-metre stretch of expressway flyover collapsed in central China’s Hubei province on Saturday, according to state media.
The collapse occurred at around 3.30pm in Ezhou, a city about 40km (25 miles) from the provincial capital of Wuhan, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.
Photos posted online showed the bridge tipped on its side.
Officials said three trucks were on the bridge at the time and crashed below. A car was also crushed by the structure, the report said.
Preliminary investigations suggested the collapse occurred when a freight truck carrying 198 tonnes, or four times its approved load, drove onto the bridge, The Beijing News reported.
The Beijing News quoted an unnamed transport official as saying the bridge was not under construction at the time and was a single-pillar bridge that could tilt under extreme load.
Engineers and inspectors from the Ministry of Transport were at the scene to investigate and the provincial governor and a deputy provincial governor were leading rescue efforts, the report said.
Xinhua added that traffic police officers and firefighters were also at the scene and traffic was being diverted.
The first group of 50 emergency workers and nine fire engines arrived at the scene around 20 minutes after traffic police were notified, state broadcaster CGTN reported.
Another 80 rescuers were sent from Huangshi, a city about 34km south of Ezhou.
The 731-metre (2,400 feet) flyover went into operation more than 11 years ago and is part of a 1,900km expressway between Shanghai, in the Yangtze River Delta and Chongqing, a major industrial powerhouse in western China.
Three months later, an official investigation blamed the structure’s failure on an overloaded freight truck, and 12 people, including the truck’s owner as well as those with the shipping company were detained.
