Five workers have been confirmed dead after a railway bridge under construction collapsed in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, on Monday afternoon.
The structure failed at 5.46pm when a ninety five metre portion of the bridge suddenly gave way while crews were working on the site. According to state media, three workers were initially unaccounted for, but their bodies were recovered on Tuesday, bringing the total fatalities to five.
State news agency Xinhua reported that the collapse occurred during the installation of a tied arch beam for the Yuegang Bridge, a key component of the Lianyungang to Shanghai railway corridor. The project is being executed by China Railway 12th Bureau Group Co, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited.
Local officials said emergency responders were deployed immediately, with Yancheng’s municipal and county authorities coordinating rescue operations. Two workers were pulled from the debris alive but later died in hospital. Search teams worked through the night to locate the remaining victims.
Xinhua confirmed that rescue operations ended on Tuesday once all missing workers were found. Footage aired by China Central Television showed a large section of the partially built bridge crumpled on the ground, surrounded by heavy equipment and emergency crews.
The Yuegang Bridge forms part of China’s expanding high speed rail network, which has undergone rapid development in recent years. The Lianyungang to Shanghai line is designed to improve transport flow between northern Jiangsu and the country’s eastern commercial hub.
An investigation into the cause of the collapse is under way, although authorities have not yet released any preliminary findings. The failure adds to a growing list of deadly incidents tied to major construction projects in China. In December 2024, thirteen people died after the ground gave way at a railway site in Guangdong Province, and a month earlier, eleven lives were lost in a test train collision in Kunming.
