A scene of the accident site of a road collapse in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province on Sunday night. (Photo: Xinhua)

Workers repair the main road. (Photo: Xinhua)

Firefighters stand by the accident site. (Photo: Xinhua)

Many citizens observe the accident site of the road collapse. (Photo: Xinhua)

A blast caused a segment of an arterial road to collapse in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province on Sunday afternoon, local Modern Express reported.

No casualty was reported from the accident, which took place at a construction site of the city's metro line on Hanzhong road.

The collapse took place at around 4:39 pm in front of Jinpeng Building and left a nearly 50-square-meter pit and serious traffic congestion. Gas supply system nearby was also shut off for safety concern, the report said.

The municipal government and related departments rushed to the accident site and carried out emergency measures.

The city's traffic administration asked drivers to detour while the repair work was underway.

About 2,500 households and four enterprises were affected by the gas cutoff, which would be resumed on Monday.

In addition, around 400 residents near the collapse were evacuated to safety. All of them will get subsidies from the government.

According to an official of Nanjing's subway authority, the cave-in was caused by a blast operation at the subway construction site.

(CRI December 17, 2007)