China.- At least 10 people died in the collapse of a hotel in southeastern China used to isolate people from other parts of the country affected by the coronavirus outbreak, authorities said Sunday. The sudden collapse of the building in Quanzhou city on Saturday night left 71 people trapped, according to the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management.
Authorities reported 38 people rescued and 23 still missing. Most of the rescued were taken to hospitals for care, some with serious injuries. The cause of the collapse was being investigated and the building owner was in police custody, according to the official xinhua news agency.Two commercial premises on the first floor of the seven-story building were making renovations, and a pillar would have been deformed a few minutes before the collapse, Xinhua said citing an official in the Housing and Development department.
#BREAKING: A hotel building collapsed in Quanzhou, SE China’s Fujian at around 7 pm Saturday, trapping an unknown number of people under it. So far 16 people have been rescued. Rescue work remains underway. pic.twitter.com/rK7tEagQvV — People’s Daily, China (@PDChina)
March 7, 2020
The building, built in 2013, later became a 66-room hotel that opened in June 2018, according to the municipal authorities. The coastal city is located in Fujian Province, separated from Taiwan Island by the Taiwan Strait.The Xinjia hotel housed 58 people arriving from areas affected by the epidemic and under medical observation, the Quanzhou government said. They had all tested negative for the virus. Most Chinese cities are isolating people from Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, for 14 days.
Breaking: The Xinjia Hotel in Quanzhou, southeastern China’s Fujian province collapsed on Saturday night. As of 9:30 p.m., 28 people have been pulled from the rubble and about 70 people are trapped, according to domestic media. pic.twitter.com/H8VoSKy224 — Sixth Tone (@SixthTone)
March 7, 2020
At the time of the accident there were also workers from the hotel and an automotive shop inside the building. More than 1,000 firefighters and seven rescue dogs were sent to the site, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. Media images showed rescuers equipped with lamps pulling out several people, some bloodied. Debris was visible on the cars in front of the building.
