In the early hours of May 1st, at approximately 2:10 AM, a catastrophic highway collapse occurred on the Meida Expressway heading towards Fujian. As of 5:30 AM on May 2nd, the devastating incident has claimed the lives of 36 people, with 30 others sustaining injuries, fortunately, none life-threatening.

Currently, Guangdong Province and Meizhou City have dispatched top medical experts to conduct multidisciplinary consultations, striving to provide the best possible medical care for the injured. Disaster response and subsequent recovery efforts are underway in an orderly manner.

A local resident of Dapu County shared that the collapse site is located in Chayang Town, Dapu County, Meizhou City. The affected highway section has been in operation for many years and is situated in a mountainous area, not on an elevated bridge. The region has experienced consistent rainfall for nearly a month, and landslides have been reported near the accident site.

However, highway experts also noted that besides the continuous rainfall leading to mountain landslides, preliminary information suggests that the roadside embankment in this section is equipped with drainage channels. Nevertheless, these channels may have ruptured, allowing rainwater to infiltrate the mountainside, resulting in softening of the roadbed structure. Coupled with the surge in traffic volume due to the Labor Day holiday, the incident occurrence rate was exacerbated.

The video was provided with permission from local media.

5月1日凌晨2时10分许，梅大高速往福建方向K11+900m附近发生高速公路路面塌陷事故。至5月2日早上5时30分，已发现23辆车陷落，36人死亡，30人受伤（无生命危险）。
目前，广东省、梅州市选派最强医疗专家，开展多学科会诊，全力做好伤者救治。灾害处置和善后处置工作正在有序进行中。
大埔县一位当地居民介绍，此次高速路面坍塌的地方位于梅州市大埔县茶阳镇。这条高速已经建好通车多年了，事发路段属于当地大山路段，非高架桥。当地近一个月都在下雨，事发路段附近有滑坡。
不过，公路专家也表示，除了持续降雨导致的山体滑坡外，从目前的信息来看，这一路段的边坡上还设置了排水渠，也存在着排水渠断裂，雨水侵入山体，使得路基结构松软，加之遇上“五一”假期出行高峰，车流量较大，加剧了坍塌事故的发生速度。