13 people found, 5 alive, as rescuers continue search for survivors.
By Kevin Schoenmakers
Four residential buildings collapsed in Wenzhou, a city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, in the early hours of Monday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The incident happened in the city’s Lucheng District at about 4 o’clock in the morning. Rescue workers are at the scene looking for survivors.
According to the district government’s Weibo microblog, thirteen people have so far been found. Eight of them have died, and the others have been sent to hospital. Earlier reports said more than 20 people were thought to be trapped under the rubble.
In 2014, a government investigation classified more than 1,400 buildings in Lucheng District as “dangerous.” Of those, the report recommended that nearly 1,000 be vacated.
With contributions from Dong Heng.
(Header image: Rescue workers search for victims in the ruins of the collapsed buildings in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, Oct. 10, 2016. Yu Genlin/IC)
