Witnesses say the accident occurred at around 5: 00 PM and dozens of construction workers were buried under the collapsed scaffold and ruins of the wall. Three of them died on the spot and two others died later in hospital.

The injured workers are still being treated at local hospitals.

The collapsed wall belongs to a workshop under construction in Jiubi village, Lingshan township of Panyu county in the southern suburbs of Guangzhou. More than 70 workers were at the site, mostly migrant laborers from Hunan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces and the Chongqing municipality.

Investigation is going on and Lin Yuanhe, vice mayor of the provincial capital of Guangzhou, is at the site coordinating the rescue work.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2005)