Blind Man’s Bridge Falls injuring 12

A Chinese court has jailed two officials after they let a blind contractor build a bridge which collapsed during construction and injured 12 people, the official Xinhua news agency said Monday.

gg003 Blind Mans Bridge Falls injuring 12 picture

Huang Wenge, township head of Bujia in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, and colleague Xia Jianzhong were sentenced to 18 months and one year in jail, respectively, for not stopping the project, Xinhua said.

“Huang Wenge and Xia Jianzhong, who were in charge of road management and supervision, did not ask the contractors to provide certificates guaranteeing their proficiency,” it said, citing the court ruling.

“When they knew the bridge was being built by a blind contractor, they did not stop it,” it said, adding the contractor had changed the blueprint without getting a professional to look at the design.

“After the blind contractor changed the blueprint, he carried out the work only using a roughly drawn draft of the plan, which caused the bridge to collapse,” the report said.

Xinhua did not explain how the contractor was able to run the project considering his inability to see.

(中国日报)

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5 Comments »

Comment by VembaTsith
2007-06-11 14:18:28

the image is of the original Tacoma Narrows bridge, aka Galloping Gertie, in Washington state, which collapsed Nov 7, 1940.

Comment by Sun Tzu
2007-06-11 14:20:07

Wow.. Thats some good history.

Image has nothing to do with story. I justs feel it looks nice and goes with the story.

No image of the actual bridge was provided.

 
 
Comment by porkbarrel
2007-06-12 11:44:56

How does a blind guy change drawings and how can he work from a drawing in the first place?

Comment by Heather
2007-07-18 23:48:34

Point taken.

 
 
Comment by Paul Kainer
2008-02-05 22:49:46

Things that make you go HMM………..????????

 
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