RIO DE JANEIRO - At least two people have died and another was missing in Rio de Janeiro after a newly built cycling track collapsed after being hit by a strong wave, local media reported on Thursday.

The accident happened this morning on the Tim Maia cycling path, which joins the districts of Sao Conrado and Leblon, when a large wave hit one of its support pillars, leading a section of it to collapse.

A 50-meter stretch of the cycling path, which had only been opened in January, fell apart, killing two people and leading to searches by the fire brigade for a third.

The path was built alongside the Niemeyer Avenue and opened in January to link up with two other, older sections. Running for 3.9km, the cycling path cost the city 44.7 million reais ($12.6 million).

Speaking from Athens, Greece, where he was attending the Olympic Flame lighting ceremony, Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes said that "what has happened is unforgivable" and promised "an immediate investigation into the facts", according to Brazilian daily O Globo.