City building collapse kills five and injures 11

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-1-4  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE death toll from a building collapse in Zhangping, a city in east China's Fujian Province, rose to five yesterday with the recovery of three missing bodies, according to a local government spokesman.

The collapse occurred at about 1am on Friday when the three upper floors of the building collapsed, trapping 16 people inside.

Rescuers initially pulled 13 people from the debris and took them to hospital but two died, the spokesman said. The other 11 were reported yesterday in a stable condition.

Rescuers managed to locate the last three bodies in the collapsed building at 1:30pm yesterday.

A fire broke out in a four-story department store next to the building about an hour before it collapsed. The blaze engulfed a furniture shop on the second floor and firemen left at about 12:20am after extinguishing the fire.

It was not immediately known what caused the fire and whether it led to the building collapse, the spokesman said. The department store owns the collapsed building, where its staff lived.