Death toll from south China road collapse rises to 48

BEIJING - The death toll from a highway collapse in southern China's Guangdong province has risen to 48, local officials said, as adverse conditions complicated rescue efforts.

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

Over 20 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 highway collapse had caused the deaths of 48 people as of 2 pm on Thursday, Ma Zhengyong, the secretary of Meizhou's Communist Party committee, said at a press briefing.

The toll was up from 36 people on Thursday morning.

"In addition, there are three people whose DNA is undergoing further comparison and confirmation," Ma said.

It was not immediately clear whether those three victims were included in the toll of 48.

A further 30 people were injured, with one in a "severe" condition and the rest stable, said Liu Lebin, the deputy party secretary of Meizhou's health bureau.

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