Splashdown: Fire-Weakened Beijing Bridge Deck Falls Into River

A deck part on a 26-year-old cable-stayed Beijing bridge collapsed into the Chaobai River April 23, when tie rods hanging from an arch to at least one facet of the deck failed, Chinese language businesses and information media reported. 

Witnesses mentioned the world beneath the bridge deck had been on hearth and since visitors throughout the bridge was stopped, no casualties occurred, according to the Associated Press. Movies on social media confirmed plumes of grey smoke coming from the edges of the bridge, situated within the metropolis’s Shunyi district, AP said.

The collapsed deck part was framed by a metal arch. Images confirmed the bridge deck, which was partly suspended from tie rods hanging from the arch, to have damaged unfastened on one facet.

An article about the partial failure on ChinaDaily.com said that the trigger was a fireplace burning “cables within the bridge’s trench.” The knowledge was attributed to the Beijing Fee of Transport and no clarification of the phrase “trench” was offered. It could seek advice from the bridge substructure.

“The blaze brought about the bridge’s tie rods to rupture,” mentioned ChinaDaily.com, “which subsequently brought about the suspender cables to fail.” Town authorities “has established an accident investigation group,” the information outlet reported.

A video posted to YouTube by China Observer, which included scenes of the bridge collapse, reported that building of some type was being achieved on the bridge previous to the collapse.