Li Shenglin, minister of communications Friday demanded a
nationwide inspection of bridges and tunnels following a bridge
collapse in central China's Hunan Province that claimed more than
40 lives.
Local communications authorities should closely examine every
ongoing masonry arch bridge, a kind of bridge with stones, cement
and sands but no steel bars, Li said at a conference on
communications safety control held on Friday.
Unless no safety hazards are found can the construction work be
resumed, he said.
Bridges with serious flaws will be closed.
The 328-meter-long, 42-meter-high bridge over the Tuojiang River
in Fenghuang County in western Hunan Province, collapsed on Monday
afternoon when an estimated 123 workers were dismantling steel
scaffolding, killing at least 47 people.
China currently has more than 530,000 highway bridges, about one
in three were built in 1960s and another one third in around
1980s.
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2007)