1 dead as fog causes major car pile-up on bridge in China's Zhengzhou
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Several cars and trucks could be seen crumpled and piled on top of each other on the Zhengxin Huanghe bridge in pictures and videos on social media.
PHOTO: WEIBO
Follow topic:
BEIJING - One person died during a highway pile-up involving hundreds of vehicles in central China, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday, with images of the accident showing scenes of chaos.
Aerial pictures showed hundreds of passenger cars, vans and lorries – many of which had smashed into one another – piled up on one section of the highway in dense fog.
Other viral videos posted online showed the mangled remains of several vehicles that had crashed into others.
A video of about 42 seconds on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform showed rows of cars and trucks in various states of damage, with people meandering on the bridge taking videos and pictures.
One driver, who seems to be the person filming, said: “This is too scary. Full of people here. I don’t think we can get off the bridge.”
The accident occurred due to low visibility from fog near the city of Zhengzhou, Henan province, and involved at least 200 vehicles, state media reported.
“On Wednesday morning, a sudden build-up of fog occurred at the Zhengxin Yellow River Bridge in Zhengzhou, which caused a traffic accident involving the collision of multiple vehicles,” CCTV cited the Zhengzhou authorities as saying, adding that one person died as a result.
Visibility in multiple areas, including Zhengzhou, was less than 500m, and 200m in some areas this morning, according to the local meteorological service.
Zhengzhou traffic police said on their official social media account that traffic on the flyover had resumed as of Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency rescue efforts were carried out soon after the accident occurred, the CCTV report said. The local fire department immediately dispatched 11 fire trucks and 66 fire rescue staff to the scene, according to state media.
The Zhengxin Huanghe Bridge is a major overpass across the Yellow River, connecting Zhengzhou and neighbouring Xinxiang.
Road accidents are common in China due to a lack of strict safety controls.
In September, 27 passengers died after a bus transporting them to quarantine facilities in south-western Guizhou province flipped over on a motorway. AFP, REUTERS
