The death toll from a highway collapse in southern China has risen to 48, state media have said.
State news agency Xinhua said that a stretch of road between Meizhou city and Dabu County in Guangdong province caved in at around 2.10am yesterday (7.30pm Irish time on Tuesday).
"The highway collapse disaster... has led to the deaths of 48 people," state news agency Xinhua said.
State media has said the collapse was a "natural geological disaster" caused by the "impact of persistent heavy rain".
Guangdong, a densely populated industrial powerhouse, has been lashed by rainstorms in recent weeks, causing severe flooding and landslides in some areas.
The downpours have been much heavier than would normally be expected this time of year and have been linked to accelerating climate change.
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.
Around 500 people have been dispatched to help with the rescue operation, it added.
The provincial government has "mobilised elite specialised forces and gone all out to carry out... search and rescue", according to Xinhua.
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.
Up to 120 millimetres more rain was forecast for the province's southwestern areas today, 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.
