An overloaded lift at an apartment building construction site in Wuhan, Hubei Province plunged from about 100 meters above the ground Thursday, killing 19 people inside, mostly workers, local officials said.

The accident occurred at around 1:26 pm in a community compound called the Donghu Lake Jingyuan as the lift loaded with construction workers was going up, a spokesman with the city government of Wuhan said.

The elevator for construction workers attached to the exterior suddenly began to rise rapidly until it reached the 34th floor. The cable then snapped and the car plummeted to the ground.

Witnesses said they saw at least six people, including two women, fall to the ground. Body parts of the victims were scattered around the scene, the China News Service reported, citing witness accounts.

The site belonged to the Hubei Xianghe Construction Corporation. Most workers were painting the exterior wall of the building at the time the incident occurred.

The registration plate on the elevator wreckage was still intact. The validity period of the registration was from June 23, 2011 to June 23, 2012 and the capacity of the elevator was 12.

Five vehicles from local funeral houses, two ambulances and one fire truck were seen driving out of the construction site. Victims were said to mostly be residents of Wuhan. The identities of the victims were not released. A local official surnamed said construction was halted.

Local authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident and have suspended work at all construction sites in the province until safety checks are completed, according to Mei Hua, a local official.

Reporters were barred from entering the scene as security guards threatened to delete photographs and allegedly beat journalists, an unnamed local reporter claimed on his Sina Weibo. The account could not be immediately verified. 

The incident drew widespread attention on the Internet, with many Web users lighting virtual candles for the victims. Others were asking who should be held responsible for the tragedy and how such incidents could be prevented from happening again in the future.

Wuhan has more than 5,000 construction sites, media reports say.

Zhang Yiwu, a professor of culture at Peking University, told the Global Times that China should never seek rapid urbanization at the cost of respect for human life.

"Authorities must always prioritize work to improve conditions to guarantee people's safety. That is the paramount issue," Zhang said.

Government supervision over safety issues during the urbanization process is crucial, Zhang said.

Liang Chen and Xinhua contributed to this story