FUJIAN: Twenty people have died in a hotel building collapse in East China’s Fujian province as of Tuesday morning, Shang Yong, vice-minister of emergency management, said on Tuesday.
Xinjia Hotel in Quanzhou, Fujian province, collapsed on Saturday night, leaving 71 people trapped. By 9 am Tuesday, 61 people had been rescued from the debris, and of them 20 had died and 41 were injured, Shang said, adding that the rescue work is still underway to save the remaining 10 people.
Shang said the collapse was an accident related to construction safety. The hotel was constructed illegally and rebuilt several times against regulations, which resulted in hidden safety hazards and exposed the vulnerabilities in local construction safety.
He said after the rescue work, the authorities will launch a comprehensive investigation into the accident to hold relevant people accountable. The Quanzhou fire rescue detachment mobilized 361 firefighters from 26 fire rescue stations to the scene. The Fujian fire rescue corps also initiated a major accident rescue plan and dispatched 11 rescue teams of 853 firefighters from nine detachments across the province to Quanzhou for help, said Qiong Se, director of the fire rescue bureau of the Ministry of Emergency Management.
They have also carried 47 sets of life detection devices as well as over 2,600 sets of equipment for demolition, disinfection, communication and lighting to support the rescue work, he added.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
