Upon my first glance at this picture, I feel almost in awe. And it leaves me in utter disbelief and astonishment that such a heart-wrenching scene has actually happened in reality – the entire setting is made up mainly of crunched metal and shattered glass, making no difference from a junkyard stack; on the whole, there seem to be no sign of life among the bent and twisted pieces of metal, and I would not be surprised if there were only a few survivors due to the scale of devastation that is just horrific, further decreasing the chances of living for those trapped underneath.

It is conspicuous that a major bridge has collapsed and that, a red car, with its crushed bonnet, is hanging dangerously over the edge of the broken bridge at a steep angle. The reason for its current state and location could probably be that the bridge fell and collapsed abruptly as it was travelling along the bridge, which is an absolutely unexpected move that might have shocked and frightened the drivers; also, the car was probably hit by the rear of another car, which could have already fallen and formed part of the pile of crushed metal underneath.

Fortunately, help has arrived, as can be seen in the foreground where police officers and firemen are present, according to the uniforms they are wearing. Their small gathering at a corner suggests a possible explanation that they are discussing their next move to work together so as to rescue all victims from the area as quickly as possible and ensuring safety at the same time, perhaps before the situation aggravates, such as the falling of the red car, especially, due to its dangerous location whereby it, with the driver and passengers inside, can be buried in the rubble at any time, thus leading to a higher chance of rising the death toll. Furthermore, the calamity of this incident must have been intense, thus putting these rescuers in distress; some men are even seen with their arms on their hips, which tells me that they are probably feeling despair and dejected, this is especially so with such a tragedy to happen, whereby anyone will feel sorry for those who perished or suffered. Hopefully, their work performance and efficiency will not be affected by the incredible number of deaths and casualties that is highly expected, and I believe they will do their best to save as many victims as possible and bring them to safe ground.

In a positive view, the tragedy occurred at daytime instead of night time; if it were to be the latter, things would be difficult to manage, especially rescuing the people because logically, it is hard to see and detect anything at night, even with torches.

However, if things were to be viewed negatively, there is an expected great loss of lives, which is inevitable in such situations. Also, it is hard or if not, impossible to comprehend the feeling of falling from great height right in your own car. Well, things may often be unpredictable, but this could have been prevented! In fact, this should never have happened. With countless number of cars travelling along this major bridge, as it was before the collapse, the more its structure had to be strong and stable. I guess if thorough checks were carried out beforehand, the supposedly strong bridge would not have crumbled.

Perhaps, after this scene, most of the victims would have been rescued through the concerted efforts of the policemen and firemen and that, the clearing of debris may be in process and may take months for a complete clean-up because of the wide damage. The picture was probably taken to help viewers realise the severity of the wreckage and large amount of effort put in by different teams, of which the members are willing to risk their lives going amidst the rubble to save lives. Finally, I hope it will also be set as a “reminder” for regular checks of other bridges, be it major or minor ones.


Qianhui
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