Shenzhen, China, May 2 (IANS/DPA) The death toll has risen to 36 following the collapse of a carriageway on a motorway in China's Guangdong province, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday.

The agency reported that three more vehicles that went down with the collapsed road had been discovered.

Chinese media had previously reported 24 deaths. The collapse of an 18-meter-long section of road near the city of Meizhou on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway occurred after several days of heavy rain in the area.

Witnesses told local media that they heard a loud noise and saw a hole several metres wide open up behind them after driving past the section of road that was about to collapse. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Although Guangdong province is used to heavy rainfall, it has recently been unusually heavy. Many watercourses in the Pearl River Delta region have swollen dangerously. Flooding has also been reported in towns and villages to the north and south of Guangzhou.