An unknown number of workers were injured and some may have been buried when a crossroad bridge under construction collapsed early Thursday in Nanjing, Eastern China's Jiangsu Province, according to the Yangtze Evening Post.

Eyewitnesses said the accident took place at 2:00 am as workers were joining two sections of the bridge. Thirty meters of concrete fell from a height of 14 meters, coming down with a terrible bang. 

Ambulances and rescue teams arrived 20 minutes later. Bloodhounds were also brought to the site to sniff out the missing workers.

"I was operating the mixer when the whole section suddenly sank under my feet," said Wang Xinkuan, 51, who suffered minor injuries.

"I reached for a steel bar before I fell down to the ground. The bar sprung me up into the air. I remember I fell on the rubble and found myself in hospital when I opened my eyes."

Wang Xiwei, 18, pulled five workers out of the debris, including his uncle and future father-in-law.

"I heard a thunder-like sound,” he recalls, “then I rushed out of my dorm to see the bridge lying in smoke. I heard people yelling out there, calling for help. That's really an indelible scene."

Rescue work and investigations are ongoing.

The exact number of casualties has not yet been released.

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