(CNN) — A highway collapsed in southern China early on Wednesday, sending cars plummeting down a hill and killing dozens of people, Chinese state media reported.
At least 48 people were killed following the collapse of a section of the expressway linking Meizhou city with Dabu county in Guangdong province, according to Ma Zhengyong, Communist Party secretary of Meizhou city.
Some 23 vehicles had been recovered as rescue work continued Thursday, while 30 injured people remain in hospital in stable condition, CCTV said.
The Guangdong provincial government had sent a rescue team of about 500 people, the state broadcaster said.
More than 184 square meters of the highway disintegrated, officials told state news agency Xinhua.
Widely circulated social media videos shot in darkness showed a raging fire beneath where the road would have been and emergency workers at the scene.
Images taken after daybreak showed cars piled up at the bottom of a ravine.
Southern China has been bombarded with heavy rain in recent weeks.
Guangdong, an economic powerhouse home to 127 million people, has seen widespread flooding that has forced more than 110,000 people to relocate, state media reported, citing the local government.
The floods have killed at least four people in Guangdong, including a rescue worker, Xinhua reported Monday. At least 10 people remain missing, it added.
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