the name of the bridge in the photo is Muryong Bridge. the bridge gained the name which means "dancing dragon" in korean, as it looked like a dragon dancing when people cross it. i was on this very bridge on Oct 13 in North Korea's GeumGang Mountain. Two days later, ~SNAP~ goes the pedestrian bridge with s.korean hikers on it. one woman suffered a pelvic fracture (yeah, that's nothing i want!) and 5 others (of the 20 total injured) were temporarily disabled by the 5 meter fall.
here's more from the online JoongAng Ilbo:
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GOSEONG, Gangwon ― A cable snapped on an overloaded pedestrian bridge in the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea yesterday morning, injuring at least 20 South Korean tourists.
The Muryong Bridge is located near the Kuryong waterfall on the scenic mountain, and the tourists suffered a 5-meter fall when the bridge tilted to one side after the cable snapped. Six of the 20 tourists were unable to walk and had to be evacuated by stretcher, according to Hyundai Asan, the operator of the inter-Korean tour program.
The 24-meter-long bridge is made of wood and is suspended with steel cables. The small suspension bridge is capable of supporting five pedestrians at a time, but the tourists were on it all together, causing the mishap, a Hyundai Asan official said.
After the accident was reported, staff and tour guides transported the injured to the Mount Kumgang resort facility where they received first aid. Hyundai Asan later moved them to Sokcho Hospital in South Korea.
According to Hyundai Asan, one woman had a fractured pelvis and 19 others had minor injuries.
The bridge is located more than an hour away by foot from the main resort, thus the transport of the injured took some time. “We moved six of them using stretchers,” a Hyundai Asan official said.
Others managed to walk down the mountain with assistance.
The tourists, from Busan and Seoul, arrived to tour the North Korean mountain on Sunday.
“The bridge was already there even before we began the tour program,” the resort official said. “We repaired it in 1998. We conducted four rounds of safety checks on the bridge this year alone, but no fault was reported at the time.”
According to Hyundai Asan, 60,000 tourists have visited Mount Kumgang this year, the largest figure since the program began in November 1998.
North Korea is in charge of roads, bridges and other infrastructure on the mountain, and Hyundai Asan is responsible for maintenance and repairs of facilities. An inspection team was sent from Hyundai Asan to investigate the cause of the accident.
The South Korean government will advance its routine inspection of the resort to early next month, the Ministry of Unification said yesterday, a month earlier than normal.
By Ser Myo-ja Staff Writer / Lee Chan-ho JoongAng Ilbo
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from another article:
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Hyundai Asan is looking into the exact cause of the accident. With more than 3,000 tourists visiting everyday, some suspect that the bridge was unable to hold so much foot traffic. In addition, 20 tourists on the bridge at once may have been the cause as only five people are recommended to cross it at one time.
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of course, no one told us that (our tour guide who was supposed to accompany us up and then back down the trail just sorta disappeared right after letting us loose) and there were no signs saying anything about maximum pedestrians crossing the bridge anywhere along the hike.
*actually the thought of being injured and having to stay behind for treatment in N.Korea scares me crazy. i'm thankful that bridge didn't collapse while i was crossing it. and i was not one of those loonies jumping up and down on it ... people: this is NOT an amusement ride, i said out-loud in my head.
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