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The truck halted just in time as section of expressway gives way beneath it in flood-hit southwest China.
Truck left teetering after bridge collapse in China’s Guizhou province, battered by monsoon floods. The driver was rescued. (IMAGE: @ShanghaiEye/X)
In a dramatic scene caught on camera, a cargo truck was left hanging precariously from a collapsed highway bridge in China’s southwestern Guizhou province after days of relentless rainfall triggered a landslide beneath the structure.
The truck was the only vehicle on the Houzihe Bridge, part of the Xiamen–Chengdu Expressway, when the collapse occurred on Tuesday morning. The driver, who was trapped inside the teetering vehicle, was later rescued, according to local authorities. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media show the front half of the bridge gone, with the truck balanced just before the break, its cab suspended over the drop. The truck had reportedly stopped just in time as the section ahead gave way.
Officials say the collapse was caused by a landslide after days of heavy rain battered the region, softening the soil beneath the highway and toppling supporting columns.
The dramatic collapse comes as Guizhou province continues to reel from widespread flooding brought on by the annual East Asian monsoon. Vulnerable communities across the province have been told to evacuate to higher ground, as rivers burst their banks and rainfall records tumbled.
In the cities of Congjiang and Rongjiang, home to over 300,000 residents each, local authorities issued urgent warnings on Tuesday asking people living along rivers and in low-lying areas to flee, according to a report by news agency Reuters. Several roads have been washed out, and reports said shopping malls, underground parking areas and city streets were under water.
In a separate incident, a viaduct on a highway to Rongjiang also collapsed after a landslide uprooted its concrete columns, sending a section of the road crashing down the hillside.
State meteorologists have forecast more rain in the coming days, warning that flood-hit provinces like Guizhou remain at risk from overlapping storms.
While summer floods are common in China, scientists and officials have warned that climate change is amplifying the risk, with heavier rainfall events becoming more frequent.
Chinese authorities have raised the possibility of so-called “black swan” disasters which are rare but catastrophic events like dam failures or sudden infrastructure collapses become more likely under extreme weather conditions.
On Tuesday, while the south drowned, northern provinces such as Henan, Shandong and Hebei recorded temperatures nearing 40°C.
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev…Read More
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev… Read More
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