XINING - A steel cable failure during bridge construction in Northwest China's Qinghai province had left six people dead and 10 others missing as of 12 pm Friday, the provincial emergency management authority said.

The cable broke at around 3 am on Friday at the site of a bridge under construction on the Qinghai section of the Sichuan-Qinghai Railway. There were 16 workers on site at the time of the accident, according to a preliminary investigation.

Following the report of the accident, the Ministry of Emergency Management immediately dispatched a working group to the site to guide rescue operations, and urged efforts to verify the situation of the people involved in the accident and mobilize specialized rescue teams to make every effort to search and rescue the people who have fallen into the water.

The cause of the accident should be identified as soon as possible and efforts be made to resolutely prevent similar accidents, said the ministry.

The bridge being built over the Yellow River is a steel truss arch construction. Its main span was expected to be closed by the end of this month.

More than 380 rescuers from multiple departments, including emergency management, fire control, transportation, public security, health and the armed police have joined the search and rescue efforts. A total of 66 vehicles and 23 boats have been deployed.