Hongqi bridge collapses: Newly constructed bridge in China falls apart, splashes into river — watch

Just months after its opening, a portion of a highway bridge in China’s Sichuan province collapsed on Tuesday, giving in to a combination of a landslide and apparent structural weakness.The Hongqi bridge in Maerkang, is a 758-metre-long span on a national highway designed to improve travel between Sichuan, China’s central regions, and Tibet, Reuters reported.Footage from the scene shows debris slamming onto the bridge, with part of the span breaking away and falling into the river below. A large plume of dust rose from the collapse site as rubble scattered across the surrounding valley.

The bridge was only completed earlier this year, a milestone that the contractor, Sichuan Road & Bridge Group, shared in a video posted on social media.Local authorities confirmed that the incident occurred when landslides struck a mountainside overlooking the structure.However, there were no casualties as the bridge was already closed to traffic before the collapse. Police had shut the structure on Monday afternoon after engineers spotted cracks on slopes and nearby roads, and detected shifts in the mountain terrain above the bridge. Officials in Maerkang said that the closure decision was taken as soon as the cracks and ground movement were detected, and that worsening instability on Tuesday directly led to the collapse, New York Post reported.

According to the local government, conditions deteriorated rapidly the following day. On Tuesday afternoon, the weakening mountainside gave way, triggering landslides that destroyed the approach bridge and roadbed. The destroyed bridge section was part of a key highway link intended to ease travel between Sichuan, China’s interior, and the Tibetan Plateau.