Residents in a Henan Province county said that government-employed construction workers acted insensitively and showed no sympathy after one of their heavy vehicles crushed a woman to death Monday morning.

Li Li, 38, a mother in Zhengyang county in Zhumadian, was trying to stop the vehicle digging the Shenshui River, a project many residents long opposed.

The woman somehow ended up under the wheels of the construction vehicle, a video from Henan TV Station showed Monday, and she was crushed.

Local police and local water bureau workers, who were running the project, apparently turned a blind eye to the tragedy and some even grinned. Construction workers did not pause despite the accident, the report said.

"They are so indifferent, as if appreciating the scenery," an unnamed resident was quoted as saying.

The ambulance arrived 20 minutes after the incident, and the hospital later declared Li dead, according to the report.

No details of how the woman was struck were released. But an investigative team summoned by the local government told the Global Times Tuesday in a written statement that the woman died after accidentally "slipping down a slope to the bottom of a rolling digger."

The government also denied allegations that local officials were indifferent to the woman after she was crushed.

The statement also said that Chen Haiyang, a local official in charge of the river construction project, called the ambulance after the accident.

Meanwhile, Zhang Hanshou, director of the local water resources bureau, designated two workers to accompany Li to the hospital, statement said.

Officials working at the site rushed to help "but was intercepted by Li's family mem-bers," it said.

The statement said the Shenshui River Project, a plan to widen the river, was taking place 15 meters from the homes of residents but it was a key infrastructure project.

However, the project has encountered opposition from residents since it kicked off on December 10, 2010, as residents feared the expanded river, if too close to their houses, could pose a danger.

A woman complained to the local media that an official notice recently informed that the river would be expanded five meters on each side. But later, they observed the river would be only five meters away from their front doors.

Thirty households closest to the river selected three representatives to talk to the local government about stopping the project but they failed.