Commuters travelling from the well-off Zaisan district into the centre of Ulaanbaatar or people going to the airport have had an unpleasant surprise: following heavy rain at the weekend the Peace Bridge, which links the two parts of the city, has been damaged and is now closed.

It appears that one of the lanes of the 379 m bridge needs urgent repair. The structure, which crosses the lines of the Trans-Mongolian railway, was officially closed on 18 August for an indefinite period.

The Peace Bridge was built in in 1963 with technical and financial assistance from China and is the most famous such structure in the Mongolian capital. Commuters will now have to make detours to the other crossings, which is likely to lead to extensive congestion.