Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out rescue efforts, state news agency Xinhua reported.
“The top priority is to fully engage in emergency rescue efforts, make every possible effort to search for the missing persons, minimise casualties to the greatest extent possible, and properly manage the aftermath, including comforting the families of those affected,” Xi was quoted as saying.
He also urged emergency workers to “meticulously inspect surrounding safety hazards, and rigorously prevent secondary disasters”.
Emphasising that China had entered its critical flood season of late July to early August, Xi called on all relevant departments to fulfil their responsibilities in disaster monitoring and prevention.
According to Xinhua, the finance and emergency management ministries have “urgently” allocated 260 million yuan (US$35.8 million) to support emergency rescue and disaster relief efforts for regions including Shaanxi and neighbouring Sichuan province.
The collapsed bridge lies in Shaanxi’s Shangluo city, on the southern slopes of the Qinling mountains.
The Shangluo weather office has forecast widespread thunderstorms over the next 24 hours, with heavy showers of up to 30mm (about 1.2 inches) per hour in some areas including Zhashui county, where the incident happened.
Local residents said the Jinqian River below the bridge had begun to rise on Friday afternoon. After the bridge collapsed, a man seen shouting for help was pulled up by residents with the help of a rope, state-backed website China News reported.
An eye witness told Hongxing News, a digital arm of the Chengdu Economic Daily, that he had seen a small car floating in the river. His own vehicle was stopped by locals waving flashlights, asking him to turn around as the bridge ahead had collapsed and several cars fallen into the swollen river.
Seven vehicles had been recovered as of Saturday afternoon.
02:17
Dozens killed in highway collapse in China’s rain-hit Guangdong province
Dozens killed in highway collapse in China’s rain-hit Guangdong province
The incident comes as wide swathes of northern and southwestern China grapple with torrential rain and flooding, in a continued onslaught of extreme weather nationwide.
As of 2am on Saturday, more than 30 people had been reported missing and more than 40 houses damaged due to flash floods caused by heavy rains in Hanyuan county, in mountainous southwestern Sichuan, another CCTV report said.
The Shaanxi incident is China’s second deadly infrastructure collapse caused by rainfall and flooding in recent months.
In early May, nearly 50 people died after a section of a mountainside highway collapsed in southern Guangdong province following days of heavy rain.
