Splashdown: Fire-Weakened Beijing Bridge Deck Falls Into River
A deck section on a 26-year-old tied-arch Beijing bridge collapsed into the Chaobai River April 23, when tie rods hanging from an arch to one side of the deck failed, Chinese agencies and news media reported.
Witnesses said the area beneath the bridge deck had been on fire and because traffic across the bridge was stopped, no casualties occurred, according to the Associated Press. Videos on social media showed plumes of gray smoke coming from the sides of the bridge, located in the city's Shunyi district, AP stated.
The collapsed deck section was framed by a steel arch. Photos showed the bridge deck, which was partly suspended from tie rods hanging from the arch, to have broken loose on one side.
An article about the partial failure on ChinaDaily.com stated that the cause was a fire burning "cables in the bridge's trench." The information was attributed to the Beijing Commission of Transport and no explanation of the word "trench" was provided. It may refer to the bridge substructure.
"The blaze caused the bridge's tie rods to rupture," said ChinaDaily.com, "which subsequently caused the suspender cables to fail." The city government "has established an accident investigation team," the news outlet reported.
A video posted to YouTube by China Observer, which included scenes of the bridge collapse, reported that construction of some kind was being done on the bridge prior to the collapse.
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