A sudden collapse incident occurred on a national highway in Shanxi recently, leading to a chain collision involving four vehicles and resulting in the deaths of two individuals. One of the vehicles involved was a large truck that was thrown off the road, causing extensive damage to the vehicle and fatalities.
On April 20th, the Lu Cheng Highway Management Section in Shanxi Province reported that on April 16th at around 1:40 am, a collapse occurred at the location of K810+530 on the uphill lane of National Highway 309 in Lu Cheng District, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province (from Li Cheng to Lu Cheng direction), resulting in a rear-end collision involving four vehicles and leading to two fatalities.
Video footage from the scene showed the front of the large truck severely damaged from the collision, with the driver’s cabin also completely wrecked.
According to reports from Observer.com, there was prior information circulating on the internet in mainland China indicating that around 1 am on April 16th, a road embankment collapse occurred on National Highway 309 in Lu Cheng District, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, causing a multi-vehicle accident with casualties.
The daughter of the deceased truck driver revealed that the collapsed section of the road had a diameter of more than 4 meters and was not marked with any warning signs, raising concerns about safety hazards in road management. The family member mentioned that her father, a 55-year-old truck driver, was driving normally when suddenly encountering the collapse ahead, which caused the truck to veer off the road, leading to the fatal accident. Her father’s body is still at the funeral home…
It is worth noting that on April 16th, the Lu Cheng District Traffic Police Brigade issued a notice stating that the road section had been closed for construction due to the embankment collapse.
Following the news, discussions sparked on Chinese social media platform Weibo, with netizens commenting, “It’s not even the rainy season, how do you explain this?” “Last year’s silent car accident in Meizhou, Guangdong has passed without much attention.” Some also questioned, “Frequent traffic accidents in Shanxi? Was there widespread cutting of corners in construction work?”
The latest official report stated that according to the investigation, the sudden collapse at that road section was caused by water seepage erosion. The collapse pit measured 2.9 meters in length, 2.9 meters in width, and 1 meter in depth.
An initial analysis conducted by experts revealed that the road section experienced wet-collapse due to surface water infiltration, groundwater seepage, and erosion, resulting in the formation of voids in the roadbed and the subsequent sudden collapse.
The road section was built in 1987 and is classified as a second-class highway.