3 killed, 5 injured after bridge collapses in NE China

Trucks plunge off a collapsed bridge in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, Aug 24, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

HARBIN - The ramp of a multimillion-dollar bridge in northeast China collapsed early Friday morning, sending four trucks falling 30 meters to the ground, killing three people and injuring five.

The ramp, about 3.5 km from the main body of the Yangmingtan Bridge, tilted to one side and crashed onto the ground at 5:30 am, said Sun Qingde, deputy head of the construction committee of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. The injured have been hospitalized.

Xinhua reporters saw trucks crashed upside-down on the ground. Patches of blood and window shards were scattered around.

It is at least the sixth major bridge collapse across the country since July last year, following one in Beijing and another in the eastern city of Hangzhou. Shoddy construction and over-loading have been blamed.

The Yangmingtan Bridge was only opened to traffic in November. With a total length of 15.42 km, spanning the Songhua River in Harbin, the eight-lane bridge was claimed to be the longest in north China.

Local media reported that its construction cost 1.88 billion yuan ($296 million).

Built by the China Railway First Group Co., Ltd, it was the third bridge erected across the Songhua River in the past four years.