BEIJING, Oct 11 — Three people were killed and two injured in eastern China when a highway overpass collapsed and crushed cars below it, local officials said today.

Videos posted online showed a large section of the bridge in Jiangsu province swaying before falling on top of moving vehicles last night.

One clip posted on Twitter-like Weibo showed the bridge narrowly missing a small three-wheel car, whose driver leapt out and ran away.

Other images showed crushed cars, with only their front sections or headlights visible under a huge block of grey concrete.

A preliminary investigation showed the collapse had been caused by an overloaded truck, the Wuxi city government said in a statement on Weibo.

Three vehicles — including one that was parked and unoccupied — were crushed, and three people in the two other cars were killed, according to the statement.

Five vehicles were on the bridge deck, including two trucks.

The collapse also left two people injured, the statement said.

Construction and road accidents are not uncommon in China.

In February 2018, at least eight people died in downtown Foshan, Guangdong province, when a water leak inside a subway station construction site caused a major road to cave in. — AFP