Four trucks, a car and two motorbikes fell into the Magro river some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the port of Guayaquil when the viaduct collapsed on Wednesday, the ministry for risk management said.

At least five people were injured.

At one end of the bridge, the trailer of a truck carrying a load of corn lay onto its side, teetering over the guardrail.

The bridge connects the province of Guayas, where Guayaquil is situated, with other provinces in the north.

Guayas governor Marcela Aguinaga said she had received no reports of it being faulty.

"From what we can deduce at this point, the bridge was overloaded," she added on social network X.

The bridge's collapse comes in the middle of the rainy season in the Andean nation.

At least 20 people have been killed in flooding and landslides that have damaged 45 bridges, according to the risk management ministry.

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