Yellow River bridge collapse in Qinghai; 12 dead, 4 missing

A major bridge under construction over the Yellow River in Qinghai province collapsed during a tensioning operation, killing 12 workers and leaving four missing, officials said. The incident occurred on the under-construction section of the Sichuan-Qinghai Railway project, when a steel cable snapped and caused a central span of the arch to fall into the water below. At the time, 16 workers were on site. Rescue teams deployed hundreds of personnel and a range of equipment to search the river and recover those who may have fallen into the water.

Aerial images and state media described a large section of the bridge’s curved arch missing, with the remaining structure suspended above the Yellow River. The collapse halted work on a project touted as a landmark in China’s railway-building program, and it prompted an extensive, multi-agency response. Boats, a helicopter and robots were used in the ongoing search, with authorities dispatching a substantial emergency response to locate survivors and recover the deceased.

The bridge is a keystone element of the Sichuan-Qinghai Railway and has been described as the world’s largest-span double-track continuous steel truss arch bridge. It is...