Government closed China’s Zhangjiajie glass bridge after two weeks

A glass-bottomed bridge in China that was heralded as a record-breaker when it opened just 13 days ago has closed.

Officials said the government was planning urgent maintenance work in the place and the bridge closed with a re-opening time to be announced.

He said there had been no injuries and the bridge had not been split or broken.

The 430m-long bridge, which cost $3.4m (£2.6m) to construct, joins two mountain cliffs in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.

When it opened, it was reported to be the highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge on the planet.

The bridge can hold 8,000 visitors a day but the spokesman told CNN that 10 times as many people needed access daily .

Officials at the park declared the close in a post on the Chinese micro-blogging site, Weibo.

Visitor numbers were not mentioned by them but said the authorities urgently needed to update the place.

The place said that tour groups who had planned to see the bridge over the weekend might have “discretionary admission”.

In response to the statement, one social media user wrote: “I have reserved everything and now you are saying you’re closed… Are you really kidding me?”