BEIJING, March 8, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – At least four people were killed
following the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility
in eastern China, the Ministry of Emergency Management said Sunday.
Rescuers have also retrieved 38 survivors from the rubble, with five in
critical or serious condition, out of 71 initially trapped, the ministry
said.
The coastal city of Quanzhou has recorded 47 cases of the COVID-19
infection and the hotel had been repurposed to house people who had been in
recent contact with confirmed patients, the People’s Daily state newspaper
reported.
Footage circulating on Twitter-like Weibo showed rescue workers searching
the ruins of the Xinjia hotel in the dark as they reassured a woman trapped
under heavy debris and carried wounded victims to ambulances.
Other footage published by local media, purportedly from security cameras
across the street, showed the entire hotel collapsing in seconds.
The building’s facade appeared to have crumbled into the ground, exposing
the structure’s steel frame, and a crowd gathered as the evening wore on.
State broadcaster CCTV had earlier reported 48 people had been rescued out
of 67 initially trapped when the hotel — which opened two years ago —
collapsed.
The building’s first floor has been undergoing renovation since before the
Lunar New Year, and construction workers called the hotel’s owner minutes
before the collapse to report a deformed pillar, the official Xinhua news
agency said.
The building’s owner has been summoned by police, according to Xinhua.
China is no stranger to building collapses and deadly construction
accidents that are typically blamed on the country’s rapid growth leading to
corner-cutting by builders and the widespread flouting of safety rules.
At least 20 people died in 2016 when a series of crudely-constructed multi-
storey buildings packed with migrant workers collapsed in the eastern city of
Wenzhou.
Another 10 were killed last year in Shanghai after the collapse of a
commercial building during renovations.