China quarantine resort collapse death toll jumps to 20
10 March, 2020
The death toll from the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in eastern China has increased to 20, authorities said on Tuesday (Mar 10), with 10 others still feared trapped in the rubble.
Forty-one survivors pulled from the wreckage are injured, the Ministry of Emergency Control said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The building in the coastal city of Quanzhou had been repurposed to residence people who had been recently in regions hard hit by COVID-19, according to native newspaper Quanzhou Evening Media.
The hotel collapsed on Saturday night, with footage published by local media appearing showing the building's facade crumbling to the ground in seconds, exposing the structure's steel frame.
The town has recorded 47 cases of the virus.
Video posted online Tuesday by the Ministry of Emergency Management showed rescuers bowing above the body of a victim, with one rescuer wearing down in tears and needing to step from the scene.
Previously footage from the ministry showed rescuers supporting children placed on surgical masks before pulling them from the remains of the six-storey Xinjia resort.
A good 12-year-old boy told rescuers his mom was even now buried in the rubble.
"She was next if you ask me at the moment," he explained in the training video. His mom was rescued alive hours later, based on the ministry.
Rescuers were also seen spraying disinfectant on each other within "strict decontamination" actions between shifts.
Besides the 61 people pulled out of the wreckage, nine others escaped by themselves, the ministry said.
The first floor had been undergoing renovation since before the Chinese New Time trip, and authorities said construction personnel called the hotel's owner a few minutes prior to the collapse to report a deformed pillar.
The dog owner has been summoned by police while investigators work to determine if the renovation or an original structural issue was at fault, in line with the ministry.
Quanzhou Evening News reported Sunday that all of the persons quarantined in the hotel had tested negative for the virus.
The emergency control ministry said around 200 native and 800 Fujian province firefighters had been deployed to the scene along with 11 search and rescue teams and seven rescue pet dogs, according to Xinhua.
The National Well being Commission said it had dispatched to Quanzhou 18 medical professionals from the nearby cities of Fuzhou and Xiamen.
China is no stranger to construction collapses and deadly structure accidents that are usually blamed on the country's rapid growth resulting in corner-trimming by builders and the widespread flouting of security rules.
At least 20 persons died in 2016 when a group of crudely-constructed multi-storey buildings filled with migrant staff collapsed in the eastern metropolis of Wenzhou.
Another 10 were killed last year in Shanghai following the collapse of a commercial building during renovations.
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