At Least 29 Die In China Bridge Collapse

Workers Killed Removing Scaffolding From Ornate New Bridge In Hunan

(AP)  At least 29 people were killed after a bridge under construction in a popular Chinese tourist town collapsed as more than 100 workers were removing scaffolding, the government said Tuesday.

So far, 86 people had been rescued, including 22 who were injured when the bridge spanning the Tuo River in central China's Hunan province collapsed Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Five were in critical condition.

It was not clear how many people were missing. An estimated 123 workers were at the site at the time of the collapse, but rescuers were trying to come up with an exact count.

The cause of the collapse of the 880-foot bridge was under investigation, the Hunan Administration of Work Safety said in a statement posted to the official Gov.cn Web site. Premier Wen Jiabao ordered a thorough investigation into the accident, China Central Television reported.

The accident came less than two weeks after the collapse of a bridge in Minnesota that drew attention to aging transport infrastructure in the United States.

The 140-foot-high bridge in Hunan's Fenghuang county had four decorative stone arches and was scheduled to open at the end of this month, the administration said. It collapsed as workers were removing scaffolding from its facade, it said.

Surrounded by lush mountains and rice paddies, the ancient city of Fenghuang is a well-known tourist spot and home to the Miao and Tujia ethnic minorities. It is also famed for traditional stilt houses lining the Tuo River.

China Central Television showed bulldozers plowing through the rubble, overturning chunks of stone and concrete mixed in a tangle of steel reinforcement bars. News photos showed anxious and weeping villagers waiting for news about their loved ones.

Hunan Governor Zhou Qiang was at the scene overseeing rescue efforts, Xinhua said.

Most of the people working on the bridge were local farmers, the agency said.

"I was riding a bike with my husband and we had just passed under the bridge and were about 160 feet away when it collapsed," said a witness who would only gave her surname, Wu. "There was a huge amount of dust that came up and didn't clear for about 10 minutes."

Xinhua quoted a villager whose home was just a dozen yards from the site and had been watching the grisly rescue effort. "Their arms and legs were broken, only linked with skin," Yang Long was quoted as saying.

Wu, a cleaning lady at a local hotel, said there were houses underneath the bridge and she had heard that friends who lived there had died but wasn't clear how many.

The safety administration said the bridge was designed by the Hunan Huagang Transportation Design Institute in the provincial capital of Changsha.

Xinhua said the bridge was a 12 million yuan ($1.6 million) project by the Fengda company of western Hunan, without giving the company's full name.

An employee of a Fengda Road Construction Co. in Fenghuang said he was not clear if the bridge project was his company's or not. He refused to give his name.

Xinhua identified the contractor as the state-owned Hunan Road and Bridge Construction (Group) Ltd. Co., or RBC.

RBC construction manager Xia Youjia and project supervisor Jiang Ping were detained for questioning, it said. Phone numbers listed on the company's Web site rang unanswered Tuesday.

Construction accidents in China are frequent, with contractors often opting for shoddy materials to cut costs and using migrant laborers with little or no safety training.

The Fenghuang collapse is among the worst in recent memory. On June 15, a bridge in south China's Guangdong province collapsed when a cargo vessel loaded with sand rammed into it, killing nine people. That bridge was built in 1988 and spanned the Xijiang River, a major tributary of the Pearl River.

In January 1999 a pedestrian bridge spanning the Qi River in southwestern China's Sichuan province collapsed three years after it was built. Forty people died and another 14 were injured.

Following the accident, a local county deputy party secretary was sentenced to death for accepting a bribe from a childhood friend in exchange for the bridge-building contract.

The accident highlighted concerns among Chinese leaders and the general public about breakneck development and pervasive corruption among officials.

In its annual report on road safety last year, the Ministry of Communications categorized 6,300 of the country's bridges as dangerous because of serious damage to their "structural components," the China Daily newspaper reported Tuesday.

The newspaper report didn't give specifics but quoted Xiao Rucheng, secretary general of China's Institute of Bridge and Structural Engineering, as saying many of the country's new bridges were being built too quickly and were poorly designed.

The newspaper quoted Xiao as saying that China should "learn a lesson from the Mississippi bridge and accelerate the inspection of unsafe bridges," referring to the Aug. 1 collapse of the bridge in Minnesota that killed at least nine people.

The China Daily also ran an editorial Tuesday saying rising traffic levels made the need for nationwide bridge repairs and upgrades an urgent issue.

"If left unrepaired these bridges may crumble at any time, (wreaking) economic havoc and possibly claiming human lives," it said, without mentioning the Fenghuang disaster, which wasn't reported by state media until late Monday.

[erasmus6]

It's funny,whenever I read an artitcle and then read the comments, usually by the second page or even the second post, it is no longer about the article but about politics. Actually it isn't funny it's quite sad.

Do you people still talk politics while your having s-e-x or on the toilet?:)

[kaviz]

mudnose

Its obvious by your name where your head is at with Bush.
As far as Clinton doing nothing, I have to agree. I mean, eliminating the debt, supporting education, increasing police support, providing business opportunties for low income and minorities, protecting the enviroment, and one of the strongest economies in decades.
I'm sure glad we dont have to deal with that anymore.

[mudrose-2009]

"Obviously George Bush's fault. Right libs?
Posted by infidel_us at 07:56 AM : Aug 14, 2007"

Are you kidding me? After 8 years of Bush, you guys are still blaming Clinton for the state of the world.
Posted by oleander8

No he's really blaming Bush. Why 8 years from now you will still be blaming Bush. Clintoid was a bastardo, and for all he was worth, which isn't much, we can't blame him for anything. He didn't do much of anything to blame him for. How'd you like them apples?

[tnt1954]

my sympathies to all those who have ever lived
and died, will die today, and those that will
die in the future, even myself, who will die
someday, again. i've had about 40 near-death
experiences. i'm amazed i'm still alive.
its incredible. i think it has something
to do with time travllers who keep saving
my life for some reason. like the bible
says, all have an appointed time to die.
i used to scoff at that. but who knows? what
if eternal life is real? as we are, in the
flesh, in the here and now. wouldn't that
be far-out? i was taught that all there
really is in life, is death and taxes. to
expect nothing, and get nothing in return.

I find it funny that infidel_us calls liberals "miserable" when every post that he makes is beyond cynical and miserable.

It's hard to believe that he actually enjoys spending his whole day surfing the CBS boards. When he dies alone and miserable (as they are most likely old and miserable), no one will care. Let's see how many people you can torture and hurt before you go...

[newsguy101]

Its all because of the war in Iraq! Bush is spending too much money in the middle east when he could have sent it to china where they could build better bridges.

[hawksprings]

l8c6,
Congress' approval rating is down to 3%, so it's actually 97% of America that is dissapointed with them, not 75%. Unless you're using the new math.

...

[l8c6]

Are you kidding me? After 8 years of Bush, you guys are still blaming Clinton for the state of the world.
Posted by oleander8

Really, after 30 years, I still hear blame of Jimmy Carter though over 25 years ago Reaganomics what going to fix this country. It sure did as well as the world. Somehow the billionaires and their multimillion dollar yachts and airliners that young people learn about on VH1 are gonna start trickling down on all of us at some point. In the mean time, the daily lemming is in constant search of the best cell phone contract.

[oleander8]

"Obviously George Bush's fault. Right libs?
Posted by infidel_us at 07:56 AM : Aug 14, 2007"

Are you kidding me? After 8 years of Bush, you guys are still blaming Clinton for the state of the world.

[l8c6]

About 75% of America is disappointed with the President and Congress. Only about 10% are liberals. The rest of us are ordinary, middle of the road people who love their country and hate to see it trashed. What we are wondering is why there are still 25% who approve of the situation?
Posted by random_radar

It's the right wing extremist fringe. In Bavaria to this day rest assured there are aging sacks of sh*it that still love their furor.

[infidel_us]

The problem with Libs is that they have no sense of humor and therefore don't get sarcasm.
Posted by hawksprings at 10:57 AM : Aug 14, 2007

You're right! They are, by and large, the most miserable bunch I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.

It only bothers me when I think 'normal' people are listening to their outlandish conspiracy theories. Otherwise, they don't bother me a bit. :)

[hawksprings]

Infidel is right.

The Standard Liberal Answer To Everything (SLATE) is "It's Bush's fault!"

Infidel, don't let them get to you.
The problem with Libs is that they have no sense of humor and therefore don't get sarcasm.
It's a Politically Correct thing.

...

[random_radar]

"Obviously George Bush's fault. Right libs?
Posted by infidel_us at 07:56 AM : Aug 14, 2007"

About 75% of America is disappointed with the President and Congress. Only about 10% are liberals. The rest of us are ordinary, middle of the road people who love their country and hate to see it trashed. What we are wondering is why there are still 25% who approve of the situation?

[abigail70]

You spend your hours (no doubt supported in full by the government you despise) trolling the articles so you can spew your idiocy, don't you, infidel? You're one of those who love to stir the pot by posting moronic things, and you sit back and bask in the negative attention. Feel free to reply by gushing another load of your filth, because my attention to this thread will end shortly, and you surely need something to do to fill the hours.

I'm very sorry to hear so many people died, regardless of when and where. It's tragic.

[infidel_us]

Dammit Rove! We KNOW you and the 'Bush-O-Cons' are behind this disaster!!! Please leave China alone and RETIRE! :)

[omega39-2009]

Oh boy, the RNC has unleashed on this thread four of the the last six bush supporters still found on this planet. I wonder what Laura and Barney the dog are doing this morning?

[tcoleman12]

It is my understanding that the Red Commies were planning a fuel tax increase to pay for the bridge repairs. But decided to just build the new bridge out of bamboo and string.

[gangesdak]

I heard reports that the Chinese authorities shot the Chief Engineer who already died on the fallen scaffolding. The chief engineeer was heard saying "It is Bush. It is Bush" as he was falling.

[mudrose-2009]

Obviously George Bush's fault. Right libs?
Posted by infidel_us

Righteous!

[rushlimpdrug]

Obviously George Bush's fault. Right libs?
Posted by infidel_us

You are soooo stupid.