BEIJING: At least 12 workers lost their lives, and four others are missing after an under-construction railway bridge collapsed over a major river in China, according to state media.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the incident occurred in northwest China’s Qinghai province when a steel cable snapped around 3 a.m. during a tensioning operation.
Sixteen workers were on the bridge at the time. Search efforts using boats, a helicopter, and even rescue robots are underway to locate the missing workers.
Aerial images released by Xinhua show a massive gap in the curved aquamarine arch of the bridge, with a twisted section of the deck hanging over the Yellow River.
The bridge, part of the Sichuan-Qinghai Railway project, measures 1.6 kilometres (one mile) in length, with its deck rising 55 meters (180 feet) above the river, according to the China Daily newspaper.
People’s Daily reported that this is the world’s largest-span double-track continuous steel truss arch bridge and the first of its kind in China to cross the Yellow River, the country’s second-longest river.
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Images shared on state media depict the unfinished bridge with its central section missing, flanked by towering scaffolds and multiple cranes.
Hundreds of rescue workers have been deployed to assist in search and rescue operations, Xinhua said.
Industrial accidents remain frequent in China, often attributed to lax safety standards and unclear regulations. Just last December, 13 people went missing after a cave-in at a major railway construction site in Shenzhen, southern China. No survivors were reported in that incident either.