Beijing [China], The death toll from a highway collapse in China's Guangdong province has risen to 36, as emergency teams continue efforts to free cars from the scene, Al Jazeera reports. As of 5:30 a.m. (local time) on May 2, 36 people were killed and 30 injured after part of a highway collapsed on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported, citing state news agency Xinhua. According to reports, the injured people were not in life-threatening condition. The road collapsed early Wednesday morning as the May holidays began in China. This is traditionally one of the busiest times of year on the roads.Aerial photos show that a side of the S12 highway between Meizhou city and Dab county has collapsed, sending mud pouring down the steep and wooded hill. 17.9 meters (58.7 ft) of road collapsed, 2 vehicles were found in a muddy ditch. The incident was a "natural geological disaster" caused by continuous heavy rain. Several people who witnessed the incident said they heard "sounds of cars falling" followed by a "huge explosion". "We stopped and got out of the car to check and we had no idea that the road had collapsed," one man said, Al Jazeera reported, citing Guizhou Evening News." Following the incident, the highway was closed in both directions and around 500 emergency personnel, including firefighters and mine rescue experts, were deployed to the spot to help in the rescue operation. Pictures from the scene showed a huge crane with excavators damaged. Rescuers were also seen pulling out cars from the mud, with rescue equipment on standby, according to an FIR department official quoted by state media. , Search efforts were hampered due to rain at the incident site as well as movement of gravel and soil, posing some risk to workers.The highway collapse is the latest in a series of disasters related to extreme weather events in Guangdong in recent weeks. Heavy rains in April caused flooding in various parts of Guangdong, killing four people and forcing more than 100,000 residents to flee their homes. Five people were killed in a tornado that hit Guangzhou last week. This year there has been more rainfall than generally expected and this has been linked to climate change.