BEIJING, Oct 7 — A section of a new glass-bottomed walkway at Yuntai Mountain Geological Park in Henan Province, China, cracked on Monday afternoon.

UK’s Telegraph reported that tourists started screaming in fear when they saw the 68cm-wide glass pane shatter as they walked over it.

The panic caused a mini stampede towards the end of the path, the newspaper added.

Witness Lee Dong Hai, shared his moment of terror on the social media site Weibo: “I was almost at the end and suddenly I heard a sound. My foot shook a little. I looked down and I saw that there was a crack in the floor.

“A lot of people started to scream. I screamed out, ‘It cracked! It really cracked!’ and then I pushed the people in front of me so that we could run out of the way.”

The U-shaped walkway, which opened last month, is suspended at a height of about 1,080m.

It is now closed to the public until further notice.

A spokesman for the Yuntai Mountain tourism bureau told People’s Daily Online that the cracks occurred after a tourist dropped a stainless steel mug on the walkway.

However, there are three layers of glass and only one broke, the spokesman added.

The tourists were not in any danger because the glass is said to be capable of holding 800 kilograms per square metre.