China dispatches vice premier, urges better safety measures after highway collapse killed 48

BEIJING (AP) — China has dispatched a vice premier to oversee recovery efforts and urged better safety measures after a highway collapse killed at least 48 in the country’s mountainous south. The official Xinhua News Agency said Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing has “stressed sparing no effort in carrying out rescue and relief work.” One side of the four-lane highway in Guangdong province gave way about 2 a.m. on Wednesday after a month of heavy rains in the area. Twenty-three vehicles plunged into a deep ravine, some bursting into flames and sending up thick clouds of smoke. Three other people were being identified by DNA samples, though it wasn’t clear whether they had died as well.