Watch: Congo bridge collapses during inauguration as officials scramble to safety

The viral video shows a delegation cutting the ribbon to formally open the bridge for public use when the structure began to collapse. (Screengrab from video shared by @PriapusIQ on Twitter)

A bridge collapsed in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the day of its inauguration, or rather the very moment when it was being inaugurated. Videos of the incident show the country's leaders cutting the ribbon when the bridge started to fall apart.

According to reports, the small bridge was constructed to help people cross a river. It replaced a temporary structure that would collapse frequently.

Bridge collapses during ribbon-cutting ceremony in Congo

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Just as an organiser cut the ribbon at the ceremony in Kinshasa's Mont-Ngafula district, the bridge buckled, both its handrails broke off, and the central section slumped into the stream below.pic.twitter.com/FoMGxoXz3b

— PiQ  (@PriapusIQ) September 7, 2022

The clip shows a delegation cutting the ribbon to formally open the bridge for public use when the structure began to collapse. The woman official was immediately pulled to safety while the other official buckled and fell to his knees before being rescued. The bridge appeared to have broken into two from the middle.

While the video has gone viral, social media users have called out the government for the poor construction quality of the bridge.

"I thought this video was some sort of prank tik-tok videos. The fact that the bridge fell apart as soon as the tape was cut, tells me that one could tell, just by looking at it, that the thing will fall apart easily. My question is why did these officials let the filming to be done? For documentation?" commented Ilerbe Bake (@isa_ilerbe_bake).

In a similar incident in June, a new bridge in Mexico collapsed during its inauguration, sending the mayor and more than 20 people into a ditch. The incident reportedly left eight people with broken bones.

A bridge collapses on Mexico during the grand opening pic.twitter.com/tLlkq6C25M

— Sentletse (@Sentletse) June 8, 2022

According to local news reports, mayor José Luis Urióstegui said that prior to the inaugural walk across the bridge some people had been jumping on it. That and the presence of officials and journalists probably exceeded the bridge's capacity, he added.