Vietnamese bridge collapse kills 36

CAN THO, Vietnam, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- At least 36 workers died Wednesday in the southern Vietnamese city of Can Tho when a partially completed bridge collapsed on them.

The official Vietnam News Agency said about 250 people were working on the $300 million bridge over the Hau River in the southern Mekong Delta when it crumpled.

Not all of the workers could immediately be accounted for and rescuers were digging through wreckage in search of anyone trapped, a BBC correspondent said.

China's Xinhua news agency said more than 100 workers had been hospitalized.

Worker Manh Hung told the VNExpress newspaper he heard a loud noise and then watched the structure buckle.

"It is very difficult to reach the bodies and there is also danger of further collapse," he told the newspaper.

The state Nhan Dan newspaper said the section of concrete that collapsed had been poured on Tuesday.

Construction of the Japanese-funded 1.7-mile, four-lane suspension bridge 100 miles south of Ho Chi Minh City began in 2004.