The death toll from a highway collapse in southern China’s Guangdong province has risen to 48 as rescue work continues, state media said on Thursday.

Heavy rains caused a stretch of road from Meizhou city towards Dabu county to cave in at around 2:10am local time on Wednesday, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Vehicles careened into the nearly 18-metre-long gash in the tarmac and plummeted down the steep slope below.

Guangdong, a densely populated industrial powerhouse, has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks. The storms have been much heavier than expected this time of year and have been linked to climate change.

China is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases contributing to climate change but has pledged to reduce emissions to net zero by 2060.

‘All-out’ efforts

“Reporters understand from a press conference held by the city of Meizhou, Guangdong, that the highway collapse disaster … has led to the deaths of 48 people,” Xinhua reported on Thursday afternoon. The toll was up from 36 people on Thursday morning.

“In addition, there are three people whose DNA is undergoing further comparison and confirmation,” Xinhua said. It was not immediately clear whether those three victims were included in the toll of 48.

Xinhua said a further 30 people were injured in the incident but were not in mortal danger.

Footage by state broadcaster CCTV showed excavators digging through the muddy hillside below the collapsed road. Nearby, a crane lifted charred, wrecked vehicles onto a lorry as people watched from behind a cordon.

State media called the road collapse a “natural geological disaster” caused by the “impact of persistent heavy rain”.

President Xi Jinping ordered officials to “go all-out in on-site rescue work and treatment of the injured, and arrange for the management of risks and hidden dangers in a timely manner”, CCTV said on Thursday.

The broadcaster added that around 500 people were dispatched to help with the rescue operation.

The provincial government has “mobilised elite specialised forces and gone all out to carry out … search and rescue”, according to Xinhua.

An official notice on Wednesday advised that part of the S12 highway was closed in both directions, requiring detours.

More disasters likely

Parts of central and eastern Guangdong have received up to 600 millimetres of rain in the last 10 days, three times the amount normally expected at this time of year, the National Weather Office said on Thursday.

Up to 120mm more rain was forecast for the province’s southwestern areas on Thursday, alongside further downpours across southern China until Sunday.

The conditions “raise the risk of disasters, especially geological disasters, which have a certain lag time”, the weather office said.

The emergency management ministry also warned that persistent rain would make such disasters more likely. Officials have warned people to plan journeys carefully during the May public holiday, which runs until Sunday.

Massive downpours in Guangdong last month sparked floods that claimed four lives and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people.

Last week, a tornado killed five people when it ripped through the megacity of Guangzhou.