In a shocking infrastructure failure, part of the Hongqi Bridge in China’s Sichuan province has collapsed barely ten months after its grand opening. The bridge, which was meant to serve as a crucial link between China’s interior and the autonomous region of Tibet, crumbled on Tuesday following a massive landslide.
According to local authorities, no injuries or casualties were reported — a fact largely attributed to the timely closure of the bridge the day before the collapse. Officials had observed visible cracks and subtle ground shifts on the steep slopes surrounding the structure, prompting an emergency shutdown of traffic.
The 758-meter bridge was inaugurated in January as a strategic part of a national highway project designed to improve connectivity between remote western provinces and Tibet. Its destruction has now sparked widespread debate on Chinese social media, where videos show huge amounts of soil and debris sliding onto the bridge before one section gives way and collapses dramatically.
While the cause of the disaster appears to be linked to geological instability after heavy rainfall, the exact circumstances remain unclear. The construction company responsible for the project has so far declined to comment on the failure.
Infrastructure experts have long warned about the risks of building large-scale engineering projects in China’s mountainous regions, particularly in Sichuan — one of the country’s most geologically active provinces. The area is known for frequent earthquakes, landslides, and unstable slopes, all of which pose serious challenges for major construction projects.
Authorities have cordoned off the surrounding area for safety inspections, and an investigation has been launched into whether the collapse was caused solely by natural conditions or if structural weaknesses also played a role.
For now, the Hongqi Bridge stands as a stark reminder of how quickly human engineering can succumb to nature’s power — and how fragile even modern megastructures can be in the face of geological instability.
