Twenty-four people will stand trial for their involvement in China's worst bridge collapse, which killed 64 people and injured 22, China's State Council said yesterday.

The accident happened on August 13 when a bridge over the Tuojiang River in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, collapsed. The 328-meter-long, 42-meter-high structure was still under construction at the time of the accident.

A total of 152 workers were working at the four-arch bridge when it fell apart, and about 120 workers were dismantling steel scaffolding off the bridge, which was scheduled to open to traffic at the end of the month. Construction started in March 2004.

"This is a severe man-made accident," said a statement released from an executive meeting of the State Council. The meeting accepted recommendations of the special panel set up to investigate the accident concerning the punishments of people and organizations responsible.

It demanded that the Hunan provincial government must prosecute 24 people on criminal charges and take disciplinary action against officials who should assume "leadership responsibilities."

Previous reports said the police detained Xia Youjia, a construction manager, and Jiang Ping, a project supervisor, shortly after the accident happened.

Conclusions of the special panel and punishments handed out should be made public, the statement said.

Workers had been worried about possible collapse. "The bridge has a rather wide span," said an injured worker named Long Shaozhong.

Long said he and other workers had a feeling that construction was proceeding too quickly, especially when they dismantled all the scaffolding before the concrete had completely dried.

Caijing magazine reported that an anonymous expert said geological surveys before construction were not thoroughly carried out. The expert said a big grotto was found where the main pier was located.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2007)