1 dead in pier collapse

ONE worker died and five others were injured when a bridge pier in east China's Zhejiang Province collapsed early yesterday, local authorities said.

The pier was part of a railway bridge that was being built on a passenger express route linking the provincial capital Hangzhou with Shanghai, an official with the railway authority in Hangzhou said.

He said the accident was near Honglian Village in Nanyuan community of Yuhang, a suburban district of Hangzhou.

"The workers were pouring concrete for the bridge when the pier toppled shortly after midnight," he said.

A rescuer with the city's fire control bureau said the dead worker was 32-year-old Zhang Kunxiang from Guizhou Province. Of the injured workers, four are from Guizhou and the fifth is from Sichuan Province.

The local safety watchdog has launched an investigation.

Construction of the 159-kilometer express railway between Hangzhou and Shanghai began in February. Upon its completion by 2011, high-speed trains will cut the journey time from two hours to 38 minutes.