Expressway bridge suddenly collapses; two vehicles plunge into gap and catch fire

According to CCTV News, at about 00:38 on July 6, a sudden rockfall occurred on the surrounding mountain at the No. 6 Bridge (K230+679) on the Wanzhou–Dazhou section of the G5012 Enshi–Guangyuan Expressway. Massive boulders destroyed bridge piers, causing part of the deck to collapse. The disaster damaged two vehicles, which then caught fire, and left three people with minor injuries. The injured were promptly taken to Dazhou Central Hospital (inpatient department) for treatment.

Cause of collapse announced 

A sedan and a minivan fell into the gap (video screenshot)

After the incident, relevant units rushed to the scene immediately to handle the situation. Rescue workers from the Dazhou Comprehensive Emergency Rescue Detachment brought rescue equipment to the accident site and conducted life detection in the collapsed area; no vehicles were found buried and no signs of life were detected.

According to a preliminary on-site survey, the cause was a sudden collapse of the mountain near the No. 6 Bridge. Boulders destroyed the piers of the single carriageway in the Wanzhou–Dazhou direction, causing part of the bridge deck to collapse.

"At the bridge collapse site, one end of a bridge girder was tilted up and the other end had fallen," said an expressway traffic police officer. At the scene, a gap about 3 meters wide appeared between the expressway pavement and the bridge expansion joint on the side where the girder tilted up, while the other end fell. At the time of the incident, a sedan traveling in front and a minivan closely following it fell into the gap and quickly caught fire. When expressway traffic police arrived, both vehicles had been destroyed by fire.

"There was only one person in the sedan, who suffered a leg fracture and was rescued by the driver and passengers of the minivan. There were only two people in the minivan, and they suffered only minor injuries," the traffic police officer said. Before the incident, the minivan behind noticed something abnormal and slowed down, avoiding a collision between the two vehicles and preventing more serious consequences.

"A truck was following the minivan. After the incident, the truck driver immediately turned on the hazard lights and applied emergency braking," the traffic police officer told reporters. After the incident, someone took off their clothes and waved them vigorously toward oncoming traffic, which provided a good warning.

Schematic map showing the approximate location of the affected section

At present, the Sichuan Expressway Public Security has formulated an emergency response plan with the expressway company and will invite experts to the site as soon as possible to carry out preliminary work for road repairs.

The Enshi–Guangyuan Expressway in Hubei and Sichuan, also known as the En-Guang Expressway, is numbered G5012 in the national expressway network and is a connecting line of the G50 Shanghai–Chongqing Expressway. The section within Sichuan Province consists of the Sichuan section of the Wanda Expressway, the Daba Expressway and the Guangba Expressway. Among them, the Sichuan section of the Wanda Expressway starts at the Chongqing–Sichuan border at Houziyan Tunnel and ends at Weixing Town in Dazhou City, and was officially opened to traffic on February 4, 2015; the Daba Expressway was completed and opened to traffic on December 28, 2013; and the Guangba Expressway was completed and opened to traffic on April 29, 2012.