8 bodies found in collapsed block debris
Print Edition
Rescuers have retrieved three more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in Guiyang, capital of southwest China’s Guizhou Province, bringing the total death toll to eight yesterday.
Meanwhile, another eight people remain missing, said the city’s emergency management office.
More than 100 rescuers are combing the debris of the residential block that collapsed on Wednesday, using sniffer dogs and life detectors, the office said last night.
According to Li Shiyong, head of the firefighter rescue team, there’s a chance of finding survivors within the first 72 hours.
Earlier yesterday, the authorities gave details of five bodies that had been found.
Three were identified as males aged 24, 36, and 41, and two women, aged 32 and 39.
The building in central Guiyang, that was home to 114 people, collapsed at 11:30am Wednesday.
A total of 98 residents were confirmed safe. Fourteen were pulled out from the debris soon after, including two seniors and a 4-month-old baby.
Another 16 people couldn’t be reached, but mobile phone signals of 15 of them were detected at the scene, the office said.
In the aftermath, the authorities evacuated 1,092 people from surrounding buildings.
Guiyang Vice Mayor Xu Hao said a rain-triggered landslide is believed to have caused the hillside building collapse.
Video footage showed that a tide of mud and rocks engulfed and destroyed the building, The Beijing News reported.
Fissures could be seen on the hillside yesterday with debris coming down from time to time, China Central TV said.
Tao Yu, who lives in a nearby building, said he heard a huge bang.
“I rushed to the balcony and could see nothing except an expanse of white dust,” he told The Beijing News.
Showers are forecast for the coming days, forecasters said.
Rainy weather might cause further landslides and will make the rescue work more difficult, firefighter rescue chief Li said.
Several survivors told Xinhua news agency that they suspected that inferior building materials contributed to the severity of the collapse.
They said they had complained to the developer about cracks in the building for the past seven years.
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