Beijing: Two people were killed and three others were missing after an empty cargo ship crashed into a bridge in southern China on Thursday, causing part of the bridge to collapse, authorities and state media said.
The Canton Maritime Affairs Bureau said the collision caused five vehicles, including a motorbike, to fall off the bridge and either into the water or onto a ship below.
The container ship was traveling between the cities of Foshan and Guangzhou when it hit the Lixinsha Bridge around 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT), state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The boat “came into contact with … bridge piers, causing the roadway above them to collapse,” CCTV said.
As of 10 a.m., “two people have been rescued, two have died, one crew member was slightly injured and three people remain missing,” Guangzhou authorities said in an online statement.
CCTV footage showed rescuers in orange overalls speeding in boats down the murky waterway towards a tall bridge with a gaping gap in the middle.
Also read: New upsurge in Mozambique violence displaces thousands
Other patrol boats flashed lights as they circled the area where the wreck occurred, although the freighter appeared to have been towed away.
Photos released by CCTV earlier on Friday showed the red-and-white vessel stuck at a diagonal angle between two piers of the bridge as water cascaded from severed pipes onto its deck, where some debris was visible.
The Maritime Authority said the cause of the incident was “under investigation and rescue operations are in full force and order”.
CCTV said dozens of rescuers were sent to the scene, including reinforcements from the nearby Shenzhen Technology Center.
The owner of the boat was under control, the broadcaster said.
The area where the collision occurred is a major industrial and manufacturing area criss-crossed by a dense network of shipping lanes.
Similar accidents have occurred in China before, including in 2012 when a newly built cruise liner crashed into a bridge in the eastern city of Wenzhou, causing no casualties.
In 2007, nine people died when a cargo vessel hit a 1,600-meter-long bridge in the southern province of Guangdong, causing part of it to collapse.
