Abstract: At approximately 1:57a.m. on May 1,2024, a landslide disaster occurred between K11+900 and K11+950 of the Chayang section on the eastern extension of the Meizhou-Dapu Expressway in Guangdong Province. The eastern half of the embankment collapsed, causing 23 vehicles to fall, collide, catch fire, and burn, resulting in 52 fatalities and 30 injuries. This disaster was a low-probability event triggered by the combined and coupled effects of multiple factors, manifesting as a chain of failures including retaining wall drift, slope protection structure disintegration, soil mass scouring, embankment collapse, vehicle falls, and mass casualties. The primary cause of the collapse was the development of a high groundwater level due to long-term, sustained abnormal rainfall and associated seepage. Contributing factors included insufficient scientific understanding in engineering design, inadequate waterproofing and drainage capacity, weak operational maintenance, and inadequate monitoring and early warning. The sharp increase in holiday traffic during the May Day period in 2024 served as an incidental factor that exacerbated the severity of the disaster. Considering a balanced system comprising the self-weight of the retaining wall, upstream groundwater infiltration pressure, basal friction, and groundwater uplift, sliding equilibrium and moment equilibrium equations were established. Analysis indicates that the retaining wall enters a critical state when the groundwater level reaches approximately 100m in elevation. To deepen understanding, domestic and international research trends were reviewed, covering embankment foundation conditions, material composition, groundwater effects, monitoring and early warning, vulnerability of exposed elements, and disaster chain dynamics. The formation mechanism of the highway embankment collapse disaster is discussed. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions are proposed to mitigate the risk of similar embankment collapse disasters.