WILD FOOTAGE: See the moment the massive, brand new bridge in China collapses

November 11, 2025

From Newsweek: A bridge in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province collapsed just months after opening, following visible signs of geological instability in the surrounding terrain.

Local authorities in Maerkang city confirmed that a portion of the Hongqi bridge, which spans 758 meters along a national highway linking central China to Tibet, gave way Tuesday afternoon.

Video released by the Global Times, a state-run Chinese media outlet, showed massive clouds of dust rising from the river beneath the bridge after the collapse. Local officials said that worsening mountain conditions triggered landslides, which in turn caused the approach bridge and roadbed to collapse.

The first signs of trouble appeared on Monday, when slope deformation was detected on the right bank of the bridge section of the highway in Maerkang City. Local authorities immediately launched an emergency response. By 11 p.m., all stranded vehicles had been evacuated, and warning signs were placed at the site to restrict unauthorized entry, according to the local paper Sichuan Daily.

Due to the closure of the bridge on Monday, no one was on the bridge when it came crashing down on Tuesday.

The massive, newly-constructed bridge had just opened to the public on September 28.

WATCH BELOW:

This is WILD! https://t.co/9AJLR4kCzs

— DMLNewsApp (@DMLNewsApp) November 11, 2025

One X user offered the following explanation:

So with my architect wife who has worked in China and the US I can actually tell you what is happening here and why this matters. You can actually tell pretty easily two things in the video: a) there are not enough anchoring pylons in the mountain and b) the pylons do not go deep enough and c) they are not strong enough to withstand the lateral movement of this type of failure. These matter because those would prevent exactly this type of scenario.

Let me give you a counter example from first hand knowledge. New real estate in California, let’s assume in the Hollywood Hills or Malibu is frequently required to have pilings anywhere from 30-80 feet into bedrock which if there is 10-50 feet of topsoil could mean a 100 foot pile. This is supposed to prevent landslide risk but those piles also have to meet various standards that cover lateral movement so the building can be shaken laterally and not be removed from the pilings. As my wife said on one project she worked on “as long as there is still a mountain, this house has enough and deep enough pilings to be 50 feet in the air still anchored to the mountain.”

The reason I mention this is for all the shiny videos one might see I can tell you first hand with zero hesitation the quality of construction is incredibly poor. Chinese engineers and architects have written estimates of how low the replacement age is for many things and how low the engineering quality is not to mention any corruption. Hopefully this provides a little depth of understanding as to why you are seeing this.

So with my architect wife who has worked in China and the US I can actually tell you what is happening here and why this matters. You can actually tell pretty easily two things in the video: a) there are not enough anchoring pylons in the mountain and b) the pylons do not go… https://t.co/DkoaJgbbTl

— Blume Industries CEO Balding 大老板 (@BaldingsWorld) November 11, 2025