The death toll in a highway collapse in southern China has risen to 36, as emergency teams continue efforts to recover cars from the scene.

“As of 5:30am on May 2,  36 people have died, and 30 people have been injured,” state news agency Xinhua reported, adding that the injured were not in life-threatening condition.

The road collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday morning as China began its major May holidays, traditionally one of the busiest times of the year on the roads.

Aerial photographs showed the left carriageway of the S12 highway between Meizhou city and Dabu county had fallen away as the earth beneath it collapsed, sending mud tearing down the forested hillside.

State broadcaster CCTV said the incident was a “natural geological disaster that occurred under the impact of persistent heavy rain”.

A 17.9-metre (58.7-foot) stretch of the road collapsed, it said, with 23 vehicles plunging into the muddy pit.

Rescuers used cranes to pull the cars from the mud (Aljazeera/ Xinhua)

Several people who witnessed the incident told local media they heard “sounds of cars falling” followed by “a huge explosion”.

“We stopped and got out of the car to check and had no idea the road had collapsed,” one told the Guizhou Evening News.

The highway was closed in both directions and some 500 emergency personnel including firefighters and mine rescue experts deployed to the site to help with the rescue operation. Photos from the scene show damaged cars being pulled from the mud by a giant crane, with excavators on standby.

The incident is the latest in a series of disasters linked to extreme weather events in Guangdong in recent weeks.

Massive downpours last month sparked floods in a different part of the province that killed four people and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 residents.

Last week, a tornado tore through part of the megacity of Guangzhou killing five people.

The downpours have been much heavier than would normally be expected this time of year and have been linked to accelerating climate change.

(Aljazeera)