Three people died and two were injured when a highway bridge collapsed on Oct. 10 in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu, state news agency Xinhua said.
The bridge, in the city of Wuxi, fell on three cars below, killing three people in two of the vehicles, although the third vehicle was empty, it added.
Three cars and two trucks fell from the bridge as it collapsed.
Witnesses said cars were crushed and had flipped over.
“Two sedans were crushed underneath [the bridge],” 49-year-old restaurant owner, Zhu Xikuo said.
“Some people just went over to help rescue those trapped. A driver was rescued without injury. Metal strips were scattered over on the ground.”
Qi Liying, a 56-year-old employee of a factory near the collapsed bridge, said he had just walked under this very bridge yesterday.
“It was horrible, I felt scared,” Liying said. “I heard the bridge had collapsed at 6 p.m. and I felt so scared.”
Roads surrounding the accidents were closed off, and a heavy security presence could be seen on Friday morning.
City and transport ministry officials are investigating the cause of the accident, the agency said. A preliminary investigation suggests that an overweight truck passing over the bridge may have caused the accident.
Construction and road failures are not uncommon in China, in some cases because of poor construction.
Arched Bridge Collapses in Taiwan
Dramatic video images released by Taiwan’s Coast Patrol Corps showed an arched bridge in the northeastern town of Suao collapsing just as an oil tanker was crossing.
Divers joined hundreds of rescuers in a search effort, using cranes and excavators to raise the wreckage of two fishing boats after the Oct. 1 accident.
At least 5 people were killed and 10 injured, most of them fishermen from Indonesia and the Philippines.
Lorenz Duchamps and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
