Bridge partially collapses in southwest China, months after opening

Hongqi Bridge over the Songhua River is under construction on April 1, 2024, in Jilin City, Jilin Province of China. (Zhang Jingfeng/VCG via Getty Images)

BEIJING -- Part of a recently opened bridge collapsed in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan along a national highway linking the country’s heartland with Tibet on Tuesday, local authorities said, but there were no reports of casualties.

Police in the city of Maerkang had closed the 758-metre-long Hongqi bridge to all traffic on Monday afternoon, after cracks appeared on nearby slopes and roads, and shifts were seen in the terrain of a mountain, the local government said.

On Tuesday afternoon conditions on the mountainside worsened, triggering landslides, leading to the collapse of the approach bridge and roadbed, it added.

Construction of the bridge finished earlier this year, according to a video posted by the contractor Sichuan Road & Bridge Group on social media.

(Reporting by Xiuhao Chen, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Andrew Heavens)