At least 18 people have been killed and 18 others hospitalised after an 80-ton crane collapsed in the Guangdong province of China.

The collapse was caused by high winds.

An official in Dongguan City told the Xinhua state news agency that the crane had toppled onto a two storey building made of shipping containers.

A spokesman for the rescue effort, Luo Bin, was quoted by state media on Thursday as saying that 139 people were in the buildings at the time of the accident, and 88 managed to escape on their own.

An investigation has been opened into the accident and 20 million yuan (£2.2 million) made available by the companies concerned for the recovery and clean-up.

The accident is the deadliest to strike the region since 74 people were left dead or missing when a man-made mountain of construction waste collapsed on to buildings in the nearby city of Shenzhen in December.

Police detained 11 people following that accident on suspicion of failing to prevent the disaster.