China tragedy: Under construction brige collapses into Yellow river; 12 dead, 4 missing

At least 12 workers have died and four others are missing after an under construction bridge collapsed into the Yellow River in northwest China on Friday, state media said.

Footage aired by state broadcaster CCTV captured the moment the arch section of the bridge gave way and crashed into the waters below. According to state news agency Xinhua, the disaster was triggered by a steel cable failure.


The People’s Daily reported that 16 people: 15 workers and a project manager had been on site when the structure gave way. CCTV confirmed that ten people were killed, while two others were seriously injured at first and died later.

Four people have yet to be found, AFP reported.


The bridge, part of the Sichuan–Qinghai Railway, has been hailed as the world’s largest-span double-track continuous steel truss arch bridge. It is also the first railway steel truss arch bridge in China to cross the Yellow River, the country’s second-longest river.

Pictures shared by state media showed the broken frame of the unfinished bridge, its middle section missing, with cranes and tall scaffolding towers standing around the site.

Hundreds of emergency responders were dispatched to join search and rescue efforts, Xinhua said.

Accidents of this kind are not uncommon in China, where enforcement of safety rules is often weak. In December last year, 13 workers went missing after a cave-in at a railway construction site in the southern city of Shenzhen. No survivors were reported.