Three dead in east China's highway overpass collapse

Three people have been confirmed dead and two others injured after a highway overpass in eastern China's Jiangsu Province collapsed Thursday, crushing three cars beneath it, local authorities said Friday.

A road bridge collapses in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province on October 10, 2019, trapping cars underneath the rubble. [Photo: IC]

The overpass collapse happened at around 6:10 p.m. at the section of National Highway 312 in the city of Wuxi.

The preliminary investigation showed one of the trapped cars, which happened to be parking under the overpass, had nobody inside. The three people in the other two cars were killed.

There were also five other cars driving on the overpass when the collapse happened. The vehicles including three sedans and two trucks were stopped by the guardrail on the overpass, leaving two injured.

According to rescuers and experts from the Ministry of Transport at the site, the overturning of the upper span bridge was caused by heavily-overloaded vehicles.