A highway bridge gave way in China’s hinterland Shaanxi Province during a recent storm, killing at least 15 and fueling concern among locals about the safety of the country’s infrastructure.
On July 19, a severe rainstorm hit Zhashui county in the middle of the province, causing a flash flood and the rapid rise of river water. At around 8:40 p.m. local time, a section of the bridge collapsed and bent down at almost a 90-degree angle into the rushing brown water, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Shaanxi provincial authorities estimated that 25 vehicles and 44 people fell into the river from the crumbled bridge, based on data from the highway toll system, video surveillance, and phone verifications, according to state media Xinhua.
As of July 20, seven of the vehicles that fell into the water had been recovered, with 18 more vehicles still missing. According to Xinhua, the death toll rose to 15 by July 21.
Due to Chinese authorities’ past record of underreporting and covering up information related to such incidents, it is difficult to assess the true scale of the current situation.
China Meteorological Administration has warned of heavy and torrential rains and possible geological disasters in the province for the coming days.
The latest collapse has brought attention to a concerning issue on China’s roads: the precarious condition of the infrastructure. In the southern province of Guangdong, a highway collapsed in May, killing at least 36 and injuring 30.
A resident told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times on July 20 that his parents and his friends, a couple, were driving home when their car fell off the bridge.
The collapse made him question the bridge’s safety.
“There hasn’t been any flooding in the past few years. Now, the bridge collapsed after just this one flood. There must be a problem with its quality,” said the man, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation by the authorities. He criticized the corruption among local authorities, which he said led to the poor quality of the bridge.
Another resident, surnamed Zhong, told the state-run publication Beijing Youth Daily that he was able to get out of his car through a window he had opened before the vehicle fell into the river and that villagers rescued him.
Beijing Youth Daily reported outages in electricity, water, and communications on July 19. Residents could not report the incident to the police on time, it said.
The Shuiyang section of the highway, where the incident occurred, stretches 49 miles from Shanyang county in the east to Zhashui county in the west. Bridges and tunnels account for 61.6 percent of the total route length, with an investment budget of 7.45 billion yuan (about $1.02 billion), according to state media. Construction began in October 2015 and opened to traffic on Dec. 19, 2018.
