A recently opened bridge in China’s mountainous southwest partially collapsed Tuesday, with video showing huge dust clouds swiftly enveloping what remained of the structure. There were no reports of casualties.
Parts of the 2,487-foot Hongqi Bridge in the city of Barkam, in Sichuan province, crumbled within seconds around 4 p.m. local time. The local government said in a statement that a landslide “caused the collapse of the roadbed and approach ramp in that section.”
A recently opened bridge in China’s mountainous southwest partially collapsed Tuesday, with video showing huge dust clouds swiftly enveloping what remained of the structure. There were no reports of casualties.
Parts of the 2,487-foot Hongqi Bridge in the city of Barkam, in Sichuan province, crumbled within seconds around 4 p.m. local time. The local government said in a statement that a landslide “caused the collapse of the roadbed and approach ramp in that section.”
Police had already closed the bridge to traffic and cordoned off the area by Monday night, after local authorities identified cracks in the structure and instability on the surrounding slopes.
Video of the collapse, first posted on social media and verified by Reuters, shows a section of the bridge breaking apart, sending massive plumes of dust across the surrounding mountainside as the columns fall into the water below. The remaining section hangs over the river.
The bridge, which opened to the public in April, was part of a major national highway connecting the inland Sichuan province with neighboring region of Tibet. Hailed by officials as a local engineering milestone, the project cost around $1.3 million and took around 19 months to complete, according to the local government website.
Its contractor, Sichuan Road & Bridge Group, removed promotional materials about the structure’s opening from its site following the collapse.
China has relied on huge state-backed infrastructure construction projects to spur growth, especially in inland regions, which have long lagged behind the prosperous coast.
But the breakneck pace of construction has raised safety concerns. In August, at least 12 workers were killed when a bridge under construction in the northwestern province of Qinghai collapsed, according to a report in the state-run China Daily newspaper.
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