Five workers at a bridge construction site in central China's
Hubei Province drowned in the Yangtze River early Wednesday
morning, according to the local government.
The workers, who were helping to put a basket of steel bars into
an under-construction bridge pier, fell into the river with the
basket at around 2:10 a.m. after the wire ropes linking the basket
and a crane broke, according to the Jingzhou City publicity
department.
The construction headquarters of the Jingzhou-Yueyang Yangtze
River Bridge immediately organized divers to search for the missing
workers, while more than 60 rescuers were sent by the local
government to form a joint-rescue operation.
The bodies were recovered by 9:55 a.m.
The victims were all from Nanchong City in southwestern Sichuan
Province. Their families were now traveling to Jingzhou to deal
with the aftermath.
The Hubei department of communication and the city government of
Jingzhou have jointly set up an investigation team to look into the
cause of the accident. In addition, the bridge construction
headquarter was required to carry out a thorough examination of all
its equipment and facilities.
The 4,210-meter-long Jingzhou-Yueyang Yangtze River Bridge was
being built at an estimated cost of 2.1 billion yuan (284.6 million
U.S. dollars). It will link Bailuo Town of Jingzhou and the
Daorenji Town of Yueyang City, Hunan Province, when completed in
2009.
(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2007)