A recently opened 758-metre-long bridge in China has partially collapsed, with dramatic footage shared on social media showing the structure crumbling into the river below amid a huge plume of dust.

Hongqi Bridge, in the south-western province of Sichuan, was closed to all traffic on Monday afternoon (local time) after cracks appeared on nearby slopes and roads. Shifts were also seen in the terrain of a local mountain.

The local government said conditions later worsened, triggering landslides and leading to the collapse of the approach bridge and roadbed.

No casualties have so far been reported.

The bridge spans the Songhua River and part of a national highway that links China to Tibet.

It was completed only earlier this year, according to a video posted on social media by contractor Sichuan Road & Bridge Group.

An article published last month on the state-owned People’s Daily Online mentioned the Hongqi Bridge as one of “a string of new bridges” that had drawn “wide public attention”. The website said it had eased rush-hour congestion and improved “urban mobility”.

Also highlighted in the article was the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, which opened amid much fanfare at the end of September and has been hailed as the world’s tallest bridge.

It is 625 metres from the bridge deck down to the river – nearly nine times the height of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, or twice the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Soaring above the Beipan River in mountainous terrain in south-west China’s Guizhou province, Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge has a main span of 1420 metres and is 2890 metres long in total.

It takes the title of world’s tallest bridge from one crossing the Beipan River about 100 kilometres away.

–with Reuters