A tourist was left suspended in the air, clinging on for life, after a glass-bottomed bridge in China smashed in gale-force winds.
The glass walkway, in the Piyan Mountain in Longjing, was damaged by 145-kilometre-per-hour winds, which caused several panels to collapse.
Images widely shared on social media show a terrified man clinging on to the side of the bridge, which is suspended more than 100 metres off the ground.
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
Chinese media agency Xinhua reported that the man eventually crawled to safety with the assistance of firefighters, the police, and forestry and tourism personnel.
The man was unharmed in the incident, but has since been taken to hospital where he is receiving psychological counselling.
Watch this YouTube video to see footage of the bridge in question:
The incident raised concerns over the safety of glass-bottomed bridges, which are a common tourist attraction throughout China. According to Earth magazine, there were at least 60 glass bridges in the country as of 2016.
Perhaps most famously, the Zhangjiajie glass skywalk bridge in the Hunan province was the longest and tallest of its kind in the world when it opened. It stretches 430 metres in length and is suspended 300 metres in the air.
Images of the Longjing incident were first posted to Chinese social media platform Weibo, where they were viewed millions of times and attracted hundreds of thousands of comments from users decrying their safety.
The Piyan Mountain resort has been closed since the incident, and the Longjing city government will carry out a comprehensive safety inspection of all tourist attractions, as well as an investigation into the case, Xinhua reported.
