Massive Chinese bridge crumbles just months after debut

A newly constructed bridge in southwest China collapsed right into a reservoir simply months after opening to site visitors, with video footage capturing the dramatic second the huge construction plunged into the water under. The Hongqi Bridge, measuring 758 meters in size, fell on Tuesday after authorities detected harmful structural points that developed quickly over the previous hours.

The bridge, situated in Maerkang Metropolis in Sichuan province, served as a significant hyperlink alongside Nationwide Freeway 317, connecting the area to Tibet. The construction spanned a powerful gorge carved by the Dadu River and the reservoir shaped behind the Shuangjiangkou Dam, making it a crucial transportation route for the realm.

Warning indicators emerged hours earlier than catastrophe

The catastrophic failure didn’t happen with out warning. Authorities first detected slope deformation close to the bridge at 5:25 p.m. on Monday, November 10, prompting speedy concern concerning the construction’s stability. The deformation was attributed to cracks and shifts within the surrounding rock formations that supported the bridge’s foundations.

Officers moved swiftly to handle the escalating scenario, working by means of the night to evacuate the realm and safe the location. By 11 p.m. on Monday, the bridge had been utterly shut down and all autos that had been on the construction have been cleared from the realm. Site visitors notices have been distributed and warning indicators have been erected across the web site to stop anybody from approaching the damaging zone.

Fast deterioration results in full failure

Regardless of the fast response from authorities, the scenario continued to deteriorate in a single day. By Tuesday morning, cracks had appeared on slopes and roadways alongside the fitting financial institution of the bridge, signaling that the structural integrity had been severely compromised. The seen injury indicated that the underlying geological points have been extra extreme than initially assessed.

The collapse itself occurred afterward Tuesday, with a landslide triggering the ultimate failure. A considerable part of the 758-meter bridge crumbled and fell into the dam under, creating a large cloud of mud and sending particles flying in all instructions. The footage of the collapse rapidly unfold throughout social media platforms, displaying the second the engineering construction gave approach.

No casualties reported in incident

In what authorities described as lucky timing, no accidents have been reported on account of the collapse. The choice to evacuate and shut the bridge on Monday night proved essential in stopping what might have been a tragic lack of life. All people who had been within the neighborhood have been safely eliminated earlier than the construction failed.

The absence of casualties stands in stark distinction to the dimensions of the destruction, with your complete bridge part now resting within the waters of the reservoir under. The profitable evacuation demonstrated the effectiveness of the speedy response protocol applied by native authorities as soon as the preliminary warning indicators have been detected.

Investigation into latest development begins

Questions are actually mounting about how a newly accomplished bridge might fail so catastrophically simply months after opening to the general public. The construction had been completed earlier this 12 months as a part of the Nationwide Freeway 317 challenge, which was designed to enhance connectivity between Sichuan province and Tibet.

Engineers and authorities might want to examine whether or not the collapse was on account of insufficient geological surveys earlier than development, design flaws, development defects or unexpected environmental elements affecting the rock formations. The speedy development from preliminary deformation to finish collapse in lower than 24 hours suggests important underlying points with both the geological evaluation or the bridge’s basis design.

Transportation disruption impacts area

The collapse has severed a significant transportation hyperlink between Sichuan and Tibet, although authorities haven’t but introduced a timeline for when the freeway would possibly reopen. The Nationwide Freeway 317 serves as an essential route for each industrial site visitors and vacationers, and the lack of this bridge would require both prolonged detours or the development of a substitute construction.

Native officers are working to evaluate different routes and implement site visitors administration plans to attenuate disruption whereas figuring out the subsequent steps. The incident serves as a reminder of the challenges concerned in constructing large-scale infrastructure initiatives in mountainous areas with advanced geology.

JUST IN: 🇨🇳 Hongqi bridge collapses in southwest China, months after opening. pic.twitter.com/EK3YcWEjUy

— BRICS Information (@BRICSinfo) November 11, 2025