From Tianya:
Xinhua News: Around 5 o’clock on the 17th, an elevated road on Hongqi Road of Zhuzhou City in Hunan province collapsed, and at present the number of casualties is unknown.
Here are some pictures that were posed on various BBS forums incuding Sina, NetEase, and Mop:
The government said four people died.
Comments from Tianya:
唯一的老四:
I passed by.
This kind of thing happens plenty of time.
If not too many people die, the central government won’t care.
救国军:
Modern society’s construction/buildings are all trash. Modern people’s construction are worse than the construction/buildings of people in the past.
BigMonster:
This is definitely not a tofu dregs building [poorly constructed buildings that do not meet regulations], this elevated road had a mishap during demolition, the public security bureau, fire department, traffic police and various major hospitals were all present to help the rescue.
不快乐的想法:
These days it seems like there is nowhere that is safe. Walking across crosswalks is not safe, traveling on motorways is also not safe, what is going on?
goya0818:
This is not tofu dregs, this elevated road was in the process of being demolished
so there must have been a problem with the work process
but the reason is unclear.The elevated road crushed 22 vehicles
include several public buses
because it just happened to be rush hour time.Everyone please pray for those hurt under the elevated road.
yuxiang0826:
3 public buses were crushed, how could there only be 4 [dead].
Television/news channels, keep lying. Continue on lying.
There are at least 100+ and above.
Nick走天涯:
Very saddening!
I have been to Zhuzhou several times before, felt that city as pretty good.However I bet the Hangzhou government will be able to breathe a little easier.
topmarques:
Although this was not tofu dregs building, this construction company clearly knew this elevated road was in a busy commercial area, completely did not implement safety measures, and completely did not consider the common people’s lives and property. Whenever they have something a little like success, they rush to report it in the news, but now that something bad has happened, how come we do not see the leadership anywhere? Aside from censoring and blocking information, what else do you guys know how to do?
xuegong:
The Zhuzhou government is continuously working hard…
…continuously working hard to censor and block information!!
广寒之西:
The government again wants to censor and block information, yet again this nonsense.
Not valuing human life, in the past when there was no internet the government would just not report, this time we cannot keep silent.
There must be an explanation by the relevant departments.
May the innocent rest in peace.
贫僧只爱周晓涵:
Speechess, blowing up one half, leaving on half, and since there were no danger warning signs, also no traffic police management, it was clearly waiting for a dangerous collapse! MLGBD, a bunch of people who only know how to eat other’s food and not do anything meaningful, all TMD with pig brains!
City construction in their eyes is just a trivial thing. If they want to demolish something they demolish something. If they want to build, they build. In my hometown, there was a road lined with trees and flowers, but then they chopped all the trees, pulled up on the grass, and completely TMD paved it with bricks! Why? Because the deputy mayor in charge of urban construction’s brother-in-law makes and sells bricks!!!
四级士官:
Looks like Sichuan’s “strong-willed bridge” [similar to "strong-willed pig"] is still good, the Tuojiang Bridge built during the Cultural Revolution, ater last year’s 5.12 earthquake was deemed to be a dangerous/unfit bridge by experts and was set to be demolished. However, after being filled with large amounts of TNT explosives, after being detonated, the bridge actually still stood, remaining upright.
Simply ironic, that a 60-year-old bridge could not be toppled by an earthquake and could not be detroyed by explosives.
风铃曲:
According to what a friend at the hospital said, that day around 8pm at night, the number of dead confirmed by the hospital was over 80 people, and Zhuzhou government saying only 4 dead is complete bullshit!!! The pictures you see are only the outermost row of cars that were crushed, there are two more rows inside, and amongst them is a #19 route public bus with all seats and standing space filled with passengers. After the incident happened, no survivors.
潜水4年多:
Comrades, please calm down…according to the latest report, no one from the Zhuzhou City committee, party, government, military, or various leadership and their wives were hurt from this accident. Those who died were only a few ordinary commoners, so there is no need to make a big deal over this engineering accident. It will disappear within a month from the public’s field of vision;
ypfreddie:
The mayor of a city once went into the countryside to inspect the work. On the road he encountered an old man who was over 70-years-old. The old man knelt in front of the mayor and said: Mayor, I want to join the party. Moved, the mayor said: You are so old, why do you want to join the party? The old man said: The Communist Party is good! Even with such corruption/rot it still has not collapsed. Truly too niu.
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Gratified by my firstness…
As one of the commenters said, the idea that only 4 people are dead is laughable.
don’t you read? 4 “confirmed” dead, still could be plenty more but they need to remove the concrete
Bastard!!! Where is the moment of silence, er horn honking for this one?
All those engineers who cheated on their tests or were given passing grades because their parents are memebers of the government.
China – if it smells like shit…it usually is.
Parties Over!!! Commie wanna cracker?
How about a tall glass of STFU:
Minneapolis I-35.
Wasn’t that reported freely and extensively?
That’s irrelevant, bert. In fact, if you look at the comment that was made, it was about shit construction quality and a poor education system resulting in the collapse…specifically calling China “shit” as a result. My response was simply to indicate that the same “shit” happens in the US, does it mean “All those engineers who cheated on their tests…” etc?
Thanks for the input tho.
Come on Rick, you have to admit that the monkeys cheat on their shit a lot more than what happens in the US. We should also investigate whether or not that company in Minnesota was Chinese owned.
You know what i can’t wait for, is when those “hospitals” and roads they are building in africa collapse and they start getting chopped. Then we will start seing the “protect China’s sovereignty” missions to Africa. Along with “Dont meddle in china’s internal affairs in Chinese Angola”
hahahaha
I’m only glad the city I live in has no elevated roads.
wow that’s crazy.
4 dead my ass
Made in China!
mmm… maybe it was blown up by American bombs
who knows??
You’re stupid.
Maybe American bombs but maybe thats just what they want you to think.
Meanwhile, one of the Chinese comments says;
This is definitely not a tofu dregs building [poorly constructed buildings that do not meet regulations], this elevated road had a mishap during demolition, the public security bureau, fire department, traffic police and various major hospitals were all present to help the rescue.
How is that any worse than s-i- buildings. ‘Oh don’t worry the buildings are better now,it’s just that the people looking after them completely f–k-d them up.’
Mishap during demolition, during traffic hour. Damn Chinese internet police.
Earthquake?
Invisible tzunami?
Failed Tao of some random taichi-grasshopper?
Alien rays?
Tibetan gods?
American secret bombs?
Evil witches curse?
Drunken Elephant?
or just the great chinese planing and production quality?
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.. VERY HARD QUESTION..
i hope not many people are injured..
Yellow master race? what kind of a chimate name is that? LOL
This can all be traced back to corruption.
It’s the same story over and over again in China.
- Ineptitude or unqualified company (or companies) is/are hired through connections or relationships. The head of the firms are paid under the table.
- Unqualified engineering firm(s) are not consulted or not contracted in order to save money so everyone (those who are capable) can skim their kickbacks off the tender.
- Tendering companies offer kickbacks to heads of the state-owned authorities to look the other way.
The list goes on and on. No ethics, general disregard for life and blind greed just compel those idiots to take the money. That’s what it comes down to. Follow the money trail and you can usually find the flaws in the system. It’s endemic in China. The building of the subway lines in Shanghai are even reputed to have to used substandard materials and practices in their construction. It’s just a matter of time.
The humanity…I hope those who took the money sleep well at night.
You can bet on it, these bastards will sleep very well and live long and prosperous. The only one dying are the common folks.
Given the fact that corruption is SO widespread in China sometimes I can scarcely believe that this kind of stuff doesn’t happen all the time, and that no highways or buildings have collapsed around my ears yet.
It’s bad enough getting your kid a job he doesn’t deserve by pulling strings, or being given the use of prostitutes in exchange for not having to pay so much tax and so on, but the idea that engineering projects are affected by it is terrifying. ‘TIcking timebomb’ doesn’t do it justice.
* http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/?fa=view&id=19628&prog=zch
My previous post should read “Qualified engineering firms”…instead of unqualified…
These stories just make my blood boil.
Poetic justice would demand those very same corrupt bastards’ die in the said collapse. Unfortunately, it’s usually the innocent who die.
To be a sacrifice for building socialist infrastructure with Chinese characteristic is an honor in itself
holy shit!!! that last picture is disgusting, I wanted to hurl…
Chinese gov’t censoring unfavorable info, what else is new?
Chinese have all that they deserv, because they are very rough, and have no respect for the life. If this elevated road is in problems and you know, why you permit the trafick arround? Chienese are like childs, they don´t know anything, just because are so ignorant. I´m tired to see how you destroy yourself day by day. Wake up!!!!
shoddy construction and poor oversight by the authorities.
Since that bridge stood for almost 15 years and collapse just days before it schedules to be demolished via explosives. I would not be surprised if the faults is on the demolition team rather than the construction of the bridge it self. Perhaps the installation of explosives weaken the structure, or on the wild side, one of the explosive went off prematurely.
Seems like a reasonable assumption.
They have to drill to get explosives into concrete. And even with a safety factor, it doesn’t take but one section to cause a failure that cascades.
This stuff happens all over the world. It’s only that the government tries to cover it up that makes it sensational. Some day they may get that. The best way to admit something went wrong is when it happens.
Base on the comments, I guess most people offer their opinions before actually reading the story.
After some research, here is what I found:
-The Bridge is built in 1994
-The company won the bid for it’s demolition in 4/27 (If it’s 4/27/2009, then it is too quick to properly plan a demolition)
-The demolition is scheduled to 5/20/2009, yeah it’s today, except the bridge is already gone
-The bridge was closed to traffic on 5/5/2009, but traffic under the bridge wasn’t stops
-on 5/15/2009, two piers on the bridge are removed by explosives, for feasibility study and testing purposes.
-on 5/16/2009, two road surface are removed
-on the morning of 5/17/2009, two more piers are removed by mechanical demolition.
-on the afternoon of 5/17/2009, the entire bridge collapse.
Now the question is…. If sections of the bridge is blown to bits, why the hell does the government still allow traffic to go under sections of the bridge that’s still standing?? As a partially demolished bridge are extremely unstable due to lack of lateral support. Given my brief internship experience at Dept. of Trans. at California, this operating procedure is freaking insane!!
I agree with too yellow, it was the point I made, although rather obsequiously, above.
It doesn’t make any sense that even if the demolition was scheduled for the 20th that the bridge should collapse, undergo early demolition or that traffic is allowed near the bridge at any stage of preparation. It is probably a small mercy no one was actually driving on the bridge when it collapsed, although they would probably fair better than those below.
This would lead me to conclude that all information that people link to is fabricated. Perhaps there was a demolition scheduled, and something did go wrong, but I seriously doubt it was intended for today. Why was the bridge scheduled to be demolished? Why demolish a pathetic 15 year old bridge, unless their is a very good reason – someone suspects the bridge may fall down regardless which may have happened. What technique were they using fr demolition, most involved weakening the structure prior to demolition to ensure no damage to surrounding buildings – if this was the case;
Why are they doing this at rush hour and more importantly WHY is there any traffic within 500 metres of road.
This whole affair strikes me as an example of poorly planned corrupt laziness, coupled with an aggressive amount of information manipulation.
Pathetic.
actually you can see the removal of a road surface going on in picture 6 to 12 above, showing the progressive failure of the bridge.
Also from picture, the right side (on the picture 6 to 9 and Pic 12) of the demolition site was fences off with those red-white-blue striped fabrics (though chain-links fence would be more appropriate, but I never see them on construction sites in China). However, on right side, traffic flows freely on road parallel to it; the traffic was allowed to be under the bridge, least partially, that rather unfortunately it is on the driver side which maximized the casualties. What should be done to close both left and right side of the bridge, and put up a fence, and if traffic must flow though this area, then at least a lane should be close, so no traffic can go under the bridge. (From picture, the road parallel to the bridge seems to have 3 lanes, thus provide ample room)
Thanks for the leg work too yellow!
It’s unbelievable to me that someone allowed this to happen…that’s two completely careless and avoidable construction accidents (crane in Taiwan) in the last few months. Hope someone’s asses get canned and imprisoned for both of them.
The main problem is that the contractor for the demolition project is not truly a construction company, but rather a medium for sub-con to get their work. Thus the chaotic project coordination and execution. Which is government gross negligence to hand a project of this scale to a company like that.
whoa whoa whoa lets not rope taiwan in with mainland china here. this kind of stuff happens routinely in china, whereas taiwan has (standards!!!) a low rate of any kind of accident of this kind, and it was all over the news for days and the injured/deceased both got large settlements and public govt apologies. id like to see that happen in china!
actually it was all over the news in China, even saw it on CCTV-4 all the way here in the United States. It appears 9 people from the demolition company and 3 government officials have been arrested negligence causing major accidents (see how the trial will come out) and each the deceased family have been compensated 400,000 yuan. looks like stuff can move quickly in China, if you light a fire under it…
On the positive side, let’s be thankful on behalf of the Chinese people that no Mitsubishi Evos (along with their GDP-contributing drivers and passengers) were crushed, and that it was just fucking poor people in buses. No doubt their level of civility was very low anyway.
Our China has too many people. As we all know. FUCK!
Anyone who makes the excuse “too many people” please step to the front of the line and just die.
save cost!
I blame Japan.
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KILL THOSE JAPS!! BURN THEIR HOMES!! REVENGE FOR OUR DEAD PEOPLE!!!
A newly built elevated road collapsed here in my city last month too,, luckily it hadn’t been opened to the public yet so only 2 or 3 people died. Ah,, the wonders of Chinese engineering.
The real issue can be traced back to the Cultural Revolution. The experts were killed off or sent down to farms to be “re-educated” while the idiotic students were allowed to take full reins of the country. For 10 years the country was an intellectual and ethical wasteland. That goes to explain a lot.
It’s going to take time to put this country back on even ground with international standards, so do your part–SMACK a phlegm-spitting, money-grabbing, KTV-patronizing, obnoxious SOB (state official bastard) every chance you get.
PS. A thanks goes to TOO YELLOW for actually READING the article and summarizing for those of us who can’t read Chinese. Tsk, tsk on Fauna. You need to up your game and provide the whole picture rather than just tacking on pics and brief excerpts that may bias the story.
I love that last picture of the meat strewn about the road! What a shitty way to go, winding up under a fucking bridge that is purposely being demolished! How does this shit happen? I swear you people are genetically incompetent.
The CCP did it.
How far is the location of Zhuzhou’s 3 million yuan elevated road from the other Chinasmack Hunan story involving Mao Zedong’s 30 million yuan head?
I hope Tan Zhuo’s parents (also from Hunan) are not standing under Mao Zedong’s nose when it falls off!