China punishes officials over deadly May Day highway collapse in rain-hit Guangdong

Name: Dozens killed in highway collapse in China’s rain-hit Guangdong province
Uploaded: 2025-01-25T12:30:07.000Z
Duration: 2 min 17 s
Description: Dozens killed in highway collapse in China’s rain-hit Guangdong province

Four government offices and 32 officials have been held accountable over tragedy in which more than 50 people died

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A government report into last year’s road collapse along the Meizhou-Dabu highway in Guangdong province has cited “insufficient understanding of the hazards of continuous precipitation”. Photo: Weibo/白菜

Jane Caiin Beijing

Published: 8:30pm, 25 Jan 2025

Dozens of officials in China’s southern Guangdong province have been punished over a highway collapse last year – the country’s deadliest such incident in over a decade.

At least 52 people were killed and 30 others injured when a section of the Meizhou-Dabu highway in Guangdong collapsed on May 1 after weeks of downpours. Around 18 metres (59 feet) of a mountainous stretch of the highway in Meizhou city crumbled into the forested slope below, along with dozens of vehicles holding mostly holidaymakers.

Four government offices and 32 officials have been held accountable for the accident, according to a provincial government report released on Thursday.

Most of the punished officials – from deputy department directors to division heads – were either demoted, warned and placed under observation for a year, or ordered to submit a written apology, the report said.

Guangdong’s provincial transport department, its road affairs centre, Communications Corp – a state-owned enterprise involved in highway building and operation, and the Meizhou transport bureau were all ordered to issue written apologies.

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Dozens killed in highway collapse in China’s rain-hit Guangdong province

Meanwhile, the former deputy director of the road affairs centre, Wang Xiaotian, has been placed under investigation by the Guangdong branch of China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.