At least 16 people were killed when a temporary iron and wooden shed collapsed in a construction site in Jiangmen on South China's Guangdong Province on Tuesday.

Five others were injured in the accident that took place in Huichengnanlu of the city's Xinhui District at 10:17 am.

Most of the workers were killed or injured after they fell more than 25 metres from the shed roof and were hit by iron bars, cement bricks and wooden rods when the structure collapsed.

At least 20 workers at the construction site were buried in the ruins.

The tragedy occurred while they were working on the Yihua Commercial Plaza, a six-storey building on a site that covers more than 10,000 square metres. The structural framework of the plaza had been completed.

The accident is the most serious in Guangdong Province in recent months.

Liang Guoju, director-general of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security, Jiangmen Party secretary Chen Jixing and Mayor Wang Nanjian rushed to the scene to help direct the rescue work.

They organized more than 500 firefighters, medical staff and police to help rescue the victims and cordon off the area.

Five ambulances from major hospitals in Jiangmen transported the injured from the construction site.

Liang also visited the injured in hospitals yesterday.

All construction sites in Jiangmen were closed yesterday for safety inspections.

The tragedy has greatly concerned Guangdong Party secretary Zhang Dejiang and governor Huang Huahua.

Zhang and Huang have urged government departments to do what they can to help the injured, find out the cause of the accident and prevent similar accidents in future.

The Jiangmen municipal government has established a special task force to handle the aftermath of the accident and investigate its cause.

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