Running for her life: Chinese woman has a narrow escape as river wipes out bridge
Onlooker films terrifying moment woman leaps to safety just seconds before ramshackle structure is washed away
A woman in southern China had a lucky escape this week when a makeshift bridge she was using to cross a river was washed away by a surge of water, mainland media reported.
The incident happened about 11am on Monday in the village of Lishui in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and was caught on camera by an onlooker, The Beijing News reported on Tuesday.
Heavy rains in recent days had caused many areas to flood, and the river was running fast and high.
In the footage the woman can be seen making her way over the bridge as a group of people watches from the bank.
It soon becomes clear a torrent is approaching and the woman begins to run. Seconds after she puts her feet on solid ground the water crashes through the bridge and it is swept away.
An official from the village government, surnamed Jiang, was quoted as saying that the bridge was only a temporary structure that had been erected on July 1 after the previous one had been destroyed, also by a flood.
No one was hurt in the latest downpours, he added.
People living in the counties of Rongshui and Rongan in Guangxi were not so fortunate. According to a report by Xinhua on Tuesday, six people were killed and a seventh was missing after 58 houses in the area collapsed after being hit by landslides.
More than 3,000 hectares of crops in the region were also damaged and it was estimated that the flood had caused economic losses of 291 million yuan (US$43.6 million).
