Chinese tourist glass walkway closed

Chinese tourist glass walkway closed

Officials have closed a newly opened glass walkway in a central China tourism spot after cracks appeared in the structure at the height of the weeklong National Day holiday.

The walkway in Henan province’s Yuntaishan scenic area had been supporting dozens of tourists on Monday when a single pane of the 68m section shattered into coin-sized segments, according to footage on state broadcaster CCTV.

The area’s management bureau said there was no threat to safety because only one of the three layers of glass that make up the walkway was damaged.

It said investigators were looking into the cause of the fissures and added that the walkway is able to support a weight of more than 800kg per square metre.

The bridge hugs a cliff side roughly 120m above a canyon in the remote mountain areas renowned for its scenery. It opened on September 20, just in time for China’s week-long October 1 National Day holiday.

A glass walkway above London’s famed Tower Bridge suffered a similar accident in November after a falling bottle shattered the topmost layer of one of its panes that was designed to be easily replaceable if damaged.

Such walkways have grown popular in China as scenic areas compete to attract increasingly affluent Chinese tourists. Among them is the world’s highest and longest glass skywalk located in Hunan province’s Zhangjiajie, known as the model for the planet Pandora in the film Avatar. The structure stretches 430m at a height of 300m above the canyon floor.

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