An empty container barge last night struck the piers of a bridge in China causing part of the deck to fail, plunging vehicles in to the Pearl River Delta.
The Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration said that the barge struck the bridge while travelling on the Hongqili Waterway from Foshan to the south of Guangzhou. Chinese state media shows it wedged between two piers on Lixinsha Bridge. A section of the two-lane deck is missing.
Five vehicles fell from the bridge. Two ended up in the water and three landed in the barge. Five people died and three were injured, including a member of the barge’s crew.
Emergency workers and salvage vessels are now at the scene.
