The moment Lake Waikaremoana Track bridge collapsed

The video shows the bridge giving way and the tourists falling into the water. Photo / YouTube

A video has emerged of the moment French tourists fell 8 metres into a river when a bridge on the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk collapsed last month.

The footage, uploaded to YouTube by Adrien Whistle, shows one of the four tourists videoing their trek towards the Hopu Ruahine bridge in Hawkes Bay.

The bridge, which was designed to carry a maximuim of 10 people, collapsed and all four tourists tumbled into the river.

No-one was seriously injured.

Department of Conservation operations manager Mike Slater said the incident, on September 3, occurred when a cable on the bridge "released".

"As a result that has upset the stability of the bridge and that's where people that were on the bridge have slipped off and fallen."

Last month, Mr Slater said a full investigation was underway.

The collapse was an "extremely rare occurrence and we just need to understand in this particular case exactly what did happen".

The bridge is still closed.