A collapse incident occurred on the Meidagao Expressway in Guangdong Province recently, resulting in at least 48 deaths and 30 injuries. Following the incident, several passing drivers spontaneously joined the rescue efforts. Some truck drivers blocked the road to prevent more vehicles from advancing, an elderly person knelt down to stop vehicles, and one driver rescued six injured individuals.
After the incident, the official Chinese authorities classified the collapse on the Guangdong Meidagao Expressway that led to multiple vehicle crashes as a “disaster,” while public opinion considers it a “man-made disaster.”
A construction engineer specializing in architecture and municipal engineering pointed out in a post that for a billion-dollar highway per kilometer, the gravel base layer was only 20 centimeters thick, with no steel reinforcements visible inside the concrete, and not a single tie bar seen between the two roadways at the junction.
So, which company is responsible for the construction and operation of this section of the highway?
According to reports from “First Financial” and “Jiemian News,” the Meidagao Expressway is operated by Guangdong Chao Highways Limited, a state-owned enterprise under the Guangdong Communications Group of Guangdong Province. The construction unit of the Meidagao Expressway is Guangdong Luqiao Construction Development Co., Ltd., which was initially established in 1994 by the Guangdong Provincial Highway Administration and later transferred to the Guangdong Communications Group for management in 2000.
It has been reported that the section of the Guangdong Meidagao Expressway where the accident occurred was completed less than ten years ago, and the operator “Chao Highways” has been involved in multiple contract disputes.
After studying the information related to the accident, American senior bridge structure design engineer Zhu Xueye told Epoch Times on May 3rd, “The collapse of the Meizhou Expressway is a construction quality issue.”
“Earthwork projects are very profitable, and a lot of money goes into highway investments. It’s all spent on the land. Geotechnical investigation, construction monitoring, acceptance, every step involves a lot of money, the profit margins are exceptionally high.”
Following the incident, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping issued instructions regarding the collapse of the Guangdong Meidagao Expressway, and Li Qiang also gave orders.
However, Zhu Xueye believes that even if authorities want to hold someone accountable, it would be difficult as too many high-ranking officials are involved. Therefore, they might attribute it to a natural disaster. If public grievances escalate, as a last resort, they may scapegoat engineers from the related companies, although these engineers may not have embezzled any money.
Around 2 a.m. on May 1st, a highway surface collapse accident occurred near the K11+900m mark on the Meidagao Expressway in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, in the direction toward Fujian. According to official reports, as of 3:30 p.m. on the 2nd, the accident had resulted in 48 deaths and 30 injuries.
Following the accident, several passing drivers spontaneously joined the rescue efforts. Wang Xiangnan and Jin Yafeng, a couple from Henan Puyang, were among them. They placed their truck sideways on the road to block oncoming traffic.
According to a report from Extreme News on the 3rd, 32-year-old Wang Xiangnan was driving a refrigerated truck on the Meidagao Expressway to deliver goods to Fujian. He and his wife Jin Yafeng took turns driving.
Wang Xiangnan stated that around 2:20 a.m., he passed through the accident section, where his GPS showed severe congestion ahead. He also noticed four to five cars driving in the emergency lane in the opposite direction. He quickly stopped the truck and asked the drivers on the wrong side about the situation, learning that there was a collapse ahead, and cars had fallen below the road. Realizing that many drivers behind him were unaware of the collapse and could be in danger, he positioned the truck across the road to stop the vehicles.
Mr. Rao was driving a 7-seater business van with seven people on board, including his wife, two children, his mother, and in-laws. As he changed lanes, he felt something was off, saying, “It felt like the car was flying.” After landing, the tires burst. Upon getting out of the car, Mr. Rao was shocked to discover that the dark area was not a puddle, but the road had collapsed.
Mr. Rao had his family members pick up their phones, turn on the flashlights, and continuously wave to signal approaching vehicles to stop. They all yelled, “Don’t move forward,” but the oncoming cars couldn’t hear them, and no one stopped. One after another, cars fell from the collapsed section. Mr. Rao’s father-in-law, Huang Jiandu, knelt in the middle of the fast lane to stop the traffic.
On May 2nd, the driver involved, Liu Yongjin, shared his harrowing experience with Red Star News. Liu Yongjin approached the disaster site and saw vehicles reversing. “I felt something was wrong ahead. When I was about 100 meters away from the scene, I got out of the car and confirmed with other drivers already present that there was a collapse ahead.”
At that moment, Liu Yongjin looked down below the collapsed road section. “I could see about a dozen vehicles trapped, and some were on fire.” Without hesitation, he shouted to those who had escaped from their vehicles to move to safety. He then climbed over the guardrail and went down the slope to rescue people, saving six individuals.