Glass Bridge in China Breaks During Gale-Force Winds, Leaving Tourist Clinging 330 Feet Above the Ground

The horrific incident that left one tourist trapped on a 330 feet glass-bottomed suspension bridge in northeast China's Jilin province on May 7 is being blamed on extreme weather. The bridge is placed outside of Longjing, in the Piyan Mountain Cultural Tourism Scenic Area.

Chinese glass bridge breaks, traps a tourist high up

The incident occurred at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, when the area was struck by record-high winds of up to 150 kilometers per hour, according to a statement posted on the local government's Weibo account. An individual can be seen clinging to the bridge's rail, separated by missing and broken glass platform panels, in an image posted by Chinese state media Xinhua on Chinese social media site Weibo.

Officials say emergency teams were sent to help the trapped tourist, who safely exited the bridge at 1:20 p.m. Since then, the Piyan Mountain Scenic Area has been closed, and officials have requested a thorough safety inspection of all attractions in the area, including the bridge, as per CNN.

Some Chinese netizens are concerned about the incident in Jilin province. According to a Xinhua report, several local authorities have also implemented additional protection measures. For example, Hebei Province in north China, which has a 488-meter-long bridge in the Hongyagu Scenic Area, issued new technical specifications for glass bridges and scenic area walkways in 2018, outlining basic materials, architecture, and construction guidelines.

Glass panels under the tourists' feet shattered and fell through the cliffs underneath the bridge, according to reports. Per Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper, the man clung to the bridge's guardrails, with multiple gaps visible in front of him between beams that stretch 8.2 meters horizontally across the bridge.

Combined rescue efforts made to save a man from a broken glass bridge

The man was trapped on the 1,310-foot (400-meter) long bridge when many fragments of the glass deck were swept off by wind gusts of up to 93 miles per hour in the area at about 12:45 p.m. local time on Friday, according to the city government. Following the combined rescue efforts of firefighters, police, forestry, and tourism workers, the tourist finally crawled back to safety at about 1:20 p.m. local time.

"Our workers rushed to the scene with rescue supplies and safely moved the trapped individual to safety," according to a statement posted on Weibo, Newsweek via MSN reported. "There were no injuries as a result of the incident." The person who was stuck was admitted to the hospital for observation. He was released because his emotional and physical conditions were stable, said the statement.

The Earth magazine published by the Geological Museum of China said that the latest incident had sparked questions about the safety of glass-bottomed bridges in China. At least 60 such bridges have been constructed or are being built since 2016. Glass bridges are famous in China's mountainous provinces, such as Jiangxi, Yunnan, and Hunan, home to one of the country's most prominent glass bridges in Zhangjiajie, which measures 1,410 feet long and 20 feet high.

It is suspended 980 feet above ground between two cliffs. A recent 526-meter-long glass-bottom bridge in Qingyuan, Guangdong, holds the Guinness World Record for the longest glass-bottom bridge.

Bad weather has wreaked havoc on China's five-day Labor Day holiday this week, affecting travel for tens of thousands of people who had planned to travel around the mainland under more relaxed social-distancing rules. The Guizhou provincial meteorological agency released thunderstorm warnings on Sunday, citing heavy rain, hail, and gale-force winds in some regions.