The death toll from Wednesday's tragedy in southern China continues to grow tragically. 36 people died in the highway collapse.
As of 5:30 a.m. this Thursday, “36 people died and 30 were injured,” Xinhua news agency reported, noting that the injured were not life-threatening.
A “natural geological disaster”
Twenty vehicles were “trapped” after a section of road between Meizhou and Dabu County City in Guangdong Province collapsed at around 2:10 a.m. Wednesday, killing a total of 54 people, Xinhua reported.
Public broadcaster CCTV called the collapse a “natural geological disaster” caused “under the influence of continuous heavy rains”. The industrial province of which Canton is the capital has been hit by torrential rains in recent weeks, causing severe flooding and landslides. For the last few days, just before the monsoon, this monsoon has been pouring more than usual.
“Intensification of climate change increases the likelihood of heavy rains that normally only appear in the summer months,” Yin Jiji, head of hydrological forecasting at China's Ministry of Water Resources, told Reuters last month.
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