A Chinese tourist was stranded 100 metres high on a glass-bottomed bridge in high winds on Friday when floor panes blew off and smashed, according to local media.
State-controlled news outlet Xinhua reported that the bridge, built over the Piyan mountain ravine in the northeast province of Jilin, was damaged by high winds.
Pictures shared on social media show a before-and-after view of the bridge, with a tourist clinging to its metal framework. Much of the framework is twisted and buckled, while only a few glass panes - the only standing surface -remaining.
This tweet appears to show the before-and-after:
Someone was trapped high up on a suspended glass walkway at a scenic spot in north east China yesterday when high winds caused glass panels to fall out around them. They were eventually able to climb to safety. pic.twitter.com/0vkFHasyWh
— Matt Knight (@MattCKnight) May 8, 2021
The tourist held on for 35 minutes while firefighters and police attempted to rescue him and he eventually crawled to safety, Xinhua reported. Nobody was injured, but the tourist was moved to a hospital and is receiving psychological counselling, the outlet said.
You can watch one tourist's experience of walking across the bridge on a less windy day here:
Glass-decked bridges are an increasingly popular novelty in China, with at least 60 built since 2016, the outlet reported. Regions have sought to outdo each other with world records.
The Zhangjiajie bridge in Hunan province is 430 metres long and is often overwhelmingly crowded with tourists, as Insider reported. But that record was beaten in 2020 by the Huangchuan Three Gorges bridge in Lianzhou, southern China, which is more than 518 metres long.
The Piyan mountain bridge accident has some commentators asking about these bridges' safety records, with one person with the username "Li" saying on social media: "This is exactly why I dare not step on a bridge like that," Xinhua reported.
The bridge at Piyan mountains has been closed and the local authority, the Longjing city government, is to launch a safety review of all its tourist attractions, Xinhua reported.
