A bridge collapsed in China’s Hainan province on Aug. 8, right before the completion of its renovation. Two construction workers were confirmed dead with another three injured.
Two townships in Wanning, Hainan province, remain unconnected after roughly a quarter of the Taiyanghe Bridge fell apart. Chinese state media online say that substandard construction could be the cause.
One worker was found dead in the rubble and the other died while being rushed to the hospital.
“This project passed inspection and should not have collapsed like that,” Mr. Cai, a local resident, told The Epoch Times.
“The cause of the collapse is nothing but poor construction quality and corruption. Tragic disasters like this have continually accompanied China’s fast developing economy. For so long, concern for society has been overwhelmed by greed,” Cai added.
Mr. Liang, another resident, said no construction project in China can escape corruption, and jerrybuilt projects are rampant.
“We feel that our rights to safety and security are being threatened. We can’t help but resign ourselves to fate,” Liang said.
A number of bridge and building collapses in China have been reported in recent months.
On July 25 the Yangcheng Evening News reported the partial collapse of a highway ramp in Hefei City, Anhui Province on the previous day, killing one and seriously injuring two.
Another example is a report from Quanzhou last month. A bridge in the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian Province collapsed on July 14 without any warning. A bus traveling on the bridge plunged to the valley floor, killing the driver on the spot. The other 22 passengers on the bus all suffered injuries of various degrees.
In the early morning of the next day, July 15, sections of an approach to the Qianjiang Bridge located in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, fell out. A heavy truck carrying steel plates plunged off the side, injuring the truck driver.
Read the original Chinese report.
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