Three people have been killed in China after a highway overpass collapsed during the evening rush hour Thursday, crushing several vehicles that had been traveling underneath, reports say.

The disaster in the city of Wuxi happened along National Highway 312, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

A crowd gathered Thursday to watch workers at the site of a highway overpass collapse in Wuxi, in China's eastern Jiangsu province. (Getty Images)

Chinese transportation officials told Xinhua that heavily-overloaded vehicles traveling on the overpass likely caused it to collapse.

There were five vehicles reported to be traveling across the overpass when it crumbled – and three are said to have been crushed underneath.

Rescuers work at the site of an overpass collapse in the city of Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Friday. (Getty Images)

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Three people were killed in two of the vehicles that were flattened, Xinhua added.

The incident remains under investigation.