The sudden leak flooded the underground site and led to the multi-lane road's collapse in downtown Foshan, Guangdong province, on Wednesday night, the city government said in a statement.
"A total of nine construction workers were rescued, and ... rescue and rehabilitation work is still underway," the statement said.
It was unclear whether the dead and missing were all construction workers.
The collapsed area is as large as two basketball courts with a depth of six to seven metres (20 to 23 feet), the state-run China Daily reported.
Pictures of the scene showed a huge swathe of mud and broken concrete in the middle of the two-way thoroughfare in the city's Changcheng district.
Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced, which has angered citizens.
Official figures show 38,000 people were killed in workplace accidents in 2017.
Last May, 12 workers died following an explosion in a high-speed rail tunnel construction site in the southwest province of Guizhou.
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, is Copyright 1995-2026 Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principles for news reporting and research purposes. |
