Bridge collapse kills six, injures 12

By Chen Jia and Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-27 07:19

Six people died and 12 were injured when a landslide destroyed a key road link for reconstruction efforts in areas hit by the Wenchuan earthquake.

The bodies of the last two victims were found on Saturday afternoon, several hours after rocks smashed Chediguan bridge, sending cars into Mingjiang River at about 5am.

A van hangs from a broken bridge on Saturday in Wenchuan, Sichuan province, after a landslide crippled the artery connecting the area to the outside world. The landside killed six people and injured 12. [China Daily]

The Wenchuan county civil affairs bureau said five bodies had been identified and 12 injured people were being treated in Wenchuan County People's Hospital.

At least six destroyed trucks and a minibus were found, said an official with the information center of Wenchuan, Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture.

Rescuers were not sure how many vehicles had plunged into the river but added the death toll could rise if more cars are found in the water.

More than 100 meters of the 300-m-long bridge collapsed, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Chediguan Bridge is called the lifeline for the reconstruction of Wenchuan, the epicenter of last year's devastating earthquake, which left about 87,000 people dead or missing.

The bridge is part of the No 213 national highway, a major link to Wenchuan. President Hu Jintao officially reopened the bridge in May.

An emergency road has been temporarily provided for small vehicles, Luo Deyong, the vice chief of Wenchuan, said yesterday.

Yang Zeming, who survived the collapse, had left for Chengdu with his son and a driver from their home in Mao county of Sichuan province on Friday night.

He woke his 21-year-old son who was sleeping on the back seat when he heard the noise and saw falling rocks on Saturday morning.

They jumped off the truck and ran forward to escape. His son's body was later found under a truck destroyed by rocks. More than 10,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day.

Storms pound south

In another development, storms battered central and southern China yesterday, killing 10 people in Hunan province at the weekend.

Torrential rain, mud and rockslides began to ease in Hongjiang district of Huaihua yesterday. The local authority announced that 10 people had died, one was missing and 30 injured. More than 30,000 people were affected by the storms, it said.

The local authority started an emergency plan and more than 18,300 people were working on rescue efforts.

Xinhua contributed to the story