Two killed after barge hits bridge in China, plunging vehicles into the water ---- By LIZ LEE and BERNARD ORR, Reuters

BEIJING — Two people were killed after a barge collided with a bridge over a waterway in China's Pearl River Delta near Guangzhou City, causing part of the bridge to break off, plunging vehicles into the water, Chinese state media reported on Thursday. The Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement on their WeChat social media account the barge was travelling from Foshan city to a southern district of Guangzhou, when it crashed into the bridge at 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT) in the Hongqili Waterway. Images on state-owned China Central Television (CCTV) showed an empty container barge lodged between two columns of the Lixinsha Bridge with part of the bridge's two-lane road deck missing. All road traffic on the bridge was halted. Four vehicles and an electric motorbike fell off the bridge. Two vehicles, which included a bus, plunged into the water and three other vehicles ended up on the barge, CCTV said. The bus was carrying only its driver. It was not immediately clear if the driver survived. Two people died from the incident, one crew member was injured and two others rescued, state media said, with three more still missing. City authorities have sent emergency and rescue personnel, including six divers and salvage vessels, to the scene, local media reported. Authorities were investigating the cause of the accident, and information about casualties was still being verified, the Guangzhou maritime administration said in its statement. It also advised ships and vehicles using the route to make detours. Local officials told media that nearby residents have been evacuated and that the vessel owner had been detained by officials, according to the Global Times. Lixinsha Bridge is the main transportation route for residents of Sanmin Island, the report said, adding that an official on the island told reporters that there was still a ferry available for residents to travel. Work to strengthen the bridge, which provides residents a land connection to the cities of Zhongshan and Shenzhen, began in 2022 because of safety concerns, according to CCTV. However, the anti-collision and strengthening works have been repeatedly delayed. In the latest extension, the city transportation department has marked end-August this year for completion of the works, the CCTV report added. Guangzhou, the capital of the prosperous southern Guangdong province near the mouth of the Pearl River, is one of China's busiest maritime transportation and trading hubs. — Reuters

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more