High winds and rains have been battering parts of China's Guangdong Province, leaving 18 people dead, and many others seriously injured.

In the most serious incident, a gantry crane collapsed onto a building being used as a worker's dormitory in the city of Dongguan.

The death toll from the gantry collapse at a construction site in a factory in Dongguan has risen to 18, with 17 of them already identified.?Thirty-three other people were also injured, 18 are still in hospital, and the rest have already been discharged.

Four?of those in hospital are said to be in a critical but stable condition.

The injuries happened after an 80-ton gantry fell onto a two-story temporary building made from containers, which was being used as a dormitory for workers, during a thunderstorm with winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.

A total of 139 workers were inside when the collapse occurred.?Eighty-eight managed to escape.

Luo Bin is deputy secretary-general of the Dongguan municipal authorities and spokesperson for the rescue team.

"We have assigned personnel to cope with the aftermath of the accident and to comfort the relatives of the dead and injured one by one. The company which takes responsibility for the construction work has allocated a special fund of 20 million yuan (US$3.1 million) to deal with the aftermath issue. We will do our best to make sure that the injured acquire medical treatment and to solve relevant difficulties."

A special group has also been set up to comfort the relatives of the victims, and further investigations into the cause of the accident are underway.

Meanwhile, another gust of wind with a speed of around 28 meters per second hit an industrial park in the city of Foshan, injuring 23 people.

Thirteen?remain in hospital while 10 others with minor injuries were discharged.

Nearly 300 industrial buildings covering 4000 square meters were damaged, with walls torn down and debris scattered over a wide area.

The cities of Guangzhou and Huizhou have also been heavily affected by the extreme weather conditions, with many trees brought down, damaging a number of parked cars.

According to one resident in Huizhou, his mother in law was injured when high winds also turned over a large container.

"My mother-in-law was passing by to buy some vegetables, but the container was blown over by the wind and hit her head. Now she was in hospital receiving emergency treatment."

Strong winds in Guangzhou have severely damaged a local farmer's market, while power lines were also broken during the storm. Repairs to the electricity supply are currently underway.

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