At least 40 people have died and others are still trapped after a platform under construction at a power plant's cooling tower in eastern China's Jiangxi province collapsed on Thursday, state news agency, Xinhua has said.

The accident happened in Fengcheng at around 7 a.m. (23:00 GMT) and rescuers were on the scene, Xinhua said.

The death toll was likely to rise because an unknown number of people were still trapped, it said. Five injured workers have been sent to hospital.