Five dead after under-construction railway bridge collapses in China

Two workers were pulled from the wreckage but later died from their injuries

Five people were killed after a railway bridge under construction collapsed in eastern China on Monday.

The collapse happened at 5.46pm at a railway bridge construction site in Yancheng, in Jiangsu. A 95-metre section of the structure gave way without warning while workers were on site.

With rescue teams recovering the bodies of three missing people on Tuesday, five workers who were in the affected area are now confirmed dead, according to state media.

The incident involved the collapse of a tied-arch beam during construction of the Yuegang Bridge, part of the Lianyungang–Shanghai railway line, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The project is being carried out by the China Railway 12th Bureau Group Co, Ltd, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation Limited.

Local authorities said emergency services were dispatched immediately after the collapse, with municipal and county governments in Yancheng coordinating rescue operations and on-site response efforts.

Two workers were pulled from the wreckage but later died from their injuries, while a search for three others continued overnight before ending on Tuesday morning.

Rescue operations at the scene are completed, Xinhua reported, citing local officials.

Images broadcast by China Central Television showed a large section of the unfinished bridge lying twisted on the ground, with heavy machinery and emergency crews working through the debris.

Site of the bridge collapse (SCMP)

The bridge was being built as part of China’s expanding high-speed rail network, which has grown rapidly over the past decade and now spans much of the country. The Lianyungang–Shanghai line is intended to strengthen transport links between northern Jiangsu and China’s eastern economic hub.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the collapse, though no findings have yet been released. It remains unclear what led to the failure of the structure while it was still under construction.

The incident is the latest in a series of fatal accidents linked to large-scale infrastructure projects in China. In December 2024, 13 workers were killed when ground collapsed at a railway construction site in Guangdong province. In November last year, 11 people died following a collision involving a test train in Kunming, in southwest China.