The story appears on

Page A4

March 1, 2012

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeMetro

Construction site collapse tilts building, leaks gas

A construction site in suburban Songjiang District collapsed on Tuesday afternoon, causing underground gas pipes to leak and a nearby office building to tilt, officials confirmed yesterday.

The collapse also caused serious cracks on Laiyin Road.

The gas leak was repaired and the tilting building was stabilized, said a district spokesman surnamed Mei.

The collapse was blamed on digging work inside the construction area, the government said. The accident happened about 4:30pm at the construction site near 1881 Laiyin Road, Qixinke Industry Park.

"There was a cracking sound since morning, and I didn't realize what was going on until a series of cracking steel bars," said a witness surnamed Wang, who works on the third floor of a building near the scene.

Wang then looked out the window and saw the collapse. Wang's building was evacuated for safety concerns. Serious cracks were soon found on the walls of Wang's building, which later tilted to the north. A separate security room for the building sank by more than 1 meter.

A part of Laiyin Road about 50 meters long, 5 meters wide and 2 meters deep collapsed, which caused the leak of the natural gas pipe below, officials said.

A strong smell of gas permeated the area. Traffic police cordoned the area and the emergency crew of the city's gas company was called in. The emergency was lifted about 5pm, Mei said.

"The staff closed the leaking gas pipe immediately," Mei said. "As most of the pipes were spare ones, the accident didn't affect the gas supply in the area."


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend