While officials were gathered to officially open a foot-bridge in Kinshasa, Congo Monday, the bridge collapsed. During the ribbon-cutting.
When the structure gave out, the woman who cut the ribbon was seen clutching a man in a suit who had been holding the ribbon for her. Two other men immediately rushed to her aid to carry her to safety.
Both handrails broke off as the bridge cracked at its center, coming to a rest in the shallow stream a few feet below where it had been suspended just moments before.
One of the last to leave the broken bridge was a man dressed in military fatigues, a dark hat and dark glasses clutching an unopened bottle of champagne.
Well, at least we know cracking a bottle of champoagne over a support didn’t cause it. Too, maybe someone should have warned the folks that the ribbon wasn’t decorative, it was structural.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC5gFakHeMk
The Lead Engineer on the project was Tom Tuttle from Tacoma Washington.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgdrKCQVc3E
All trussed up and nowhere to go.
A Bridge Too Far?
Literally.
From the video, it looks like the the simple little bridge, designed for a greenway or park, was packed end to end and edge to edge with people for the ceremony. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a good number of them were dancing just for fun at the event.
That’s a huge live load. Had it been further above the gap, many could have died.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse
So, are you saying if they’d put a bunch of dead people on there it wouldn’t have collapsed?
Not all it was cracked-up to be…
Reminds me of the train going off “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Classic Movie.
https://youtu.be/OK4E6iyJf3k
That was a load bearing ribbon.
No comment since everyone beat me to the puns/yolks. Ok, so I’d raily be teed off If the rails were held together by the ribbon until gravity took over and I raily understand the gravity of the situation.
Crocodiles need to eat. So so close…
In Kinshasa, the capitol.
Well, why not? Our capitol is not known for the excellence of its public works, either. They are lucky it doesn’t snow in Kinshasa. And in local news, in Baltimore recently you couldn’t drink the water; bottled water only.
I lived there 1981-1984.
Totally and completely unshocked.
The Joe Biden Bridge of Brotherhood and Unity.