Road collapses in Tibet, trapping hundreds of cars

A section of a major road in northwest China's Tibet autonomous region collapsed Wednesday afternoon, trapping hundreds of vehicles and people but causing no injuries, police said. The 50-meter-long section of road in Bomi County, which is part of a key road linking Tibet with neighboring Sichuan province, collapsed after days of rain, said Li Xianghua, an armed police officer in the mountainous county. Rescuers were rushing to dig anther road through the mountains to evacuate the cars and people as it will take too long to repair the collapsed road, Li said. It is not known when traffic will resume, Li said. The state road linking Tibet with Sichuan was the only access to the plateau region for many years. The Bomi section of the road is particularly risky, with landslides, floods and mud-rock flows reported every year. On Saturday, a rain-triggered landslide disrupted traffic on another section of the road in Bomi, halting traffic for nine hours before rescuers cleared the road.