Three killed as bridge collapses in China

Three people were killed and five injured when the ramp of a multimillion-dollar bridge in northeast China collapsed early Friday morning, sending four trucks hurtling to the ground.

The ramp, about 3.5 km from the main Yangmingtan bridge, tilted to one side and crashed onto the ground at 5:30 a.m., Xinhua quoted Sun Qingde, an official, as saying.

It is at least the sixth major bridge collapse across the country since July last year. Shoddy construction and over-loading have been blamed for it.

The Yangmingtan bridge was 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.

The 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.