A man found himself gripping on to the side of a bridge for his life as the walkway beneath his feet gave way above a 330ft drop.
The walkway, located in the Piyan Mountain in the city of Longjing, China, was blown to pieces in howling 90 mile per hour winds.
The structure was built with glass panels stretching across the length of the walkway, giving pedestrians a heart-stopping view of the scenes below.
However, the glass panels flew off the bridge in high winds while a man was halfway across the crossing – with the male tourist then requiring rescue from emergency services.
The Straits Times reports: “Under the joint rescue efforts of firefighters, police, and forestry and tourism personnel, the male tourist successfully crawled to safety at 1.20pm.
“He has been taken to a hospital and is receiving psychological counselling.”
An image of the man in peril quickly circulated across Chinese social media site Sina Weibo over the weekend, drawing attention and commentary.
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One wrote: "This is basically one of my anxiety dreams played out in the real world.
Another posted: "This is terrifying."
And another asked: "How often did the bridge undergo maintenance?"
The bridge is now closed to all pedestrians while it undergoes repairs, while the resort where the bridge is constructed has also been temporarily closed following the incident.
Glass bottom bridges are a popular attraction in China, with at least 60 being constructed at sites across the Asian nation since 2016.
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One outlet reports: “Some local (Chinese) governments have already put in place guidelines to forestall the potential hazards.
“North China's Hebei Province released in 2018 technical standards for glass bridges and walkways at scenic areas, providing specific guidelines for materials, location, design, construction as well as the use of such bridges and walkways.
“For example, glass bridges should not be built in areas with high seismic activity and must be closed during bad weather and natural disasters, and the number of pedestrians on such bridges and walkways will be limited to no more than three per square meter, according to the guidelines.”
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