DR Congo: Video shows footbridge collapse during ribbon cutting ceremony

Dignitaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a footbridge, had to struggle to get to safer grounds after the structure collapsed. 

According to Reuters, the incident happened in Kinshasa’s Mont-Ngafula district on Monday. The video of the bridge collapse has been widely circulated on social media.

In the video, a woman is seen cutting a ribbon on the bridge seconds before the structure collapses. The woman, together with a man sharply dressed in a suit and other people, is shortly seen trying to get off the bridge afterward. 

The handrails on the bridge shattered and the middle area of the structure broke into the stream it had been constructed over. But spectators who attended the ceremony responded with amusement while the dignitaries on the bridge desperately tried to get off the structure. 

There were no reported injuries in the aftermath of the incident. Another video that was also circulated on social media showed a man in military uniform trying to get off the collapsed bridge while holding on to a bottle of champagne.