Death toll rises in residential building collapse

Twenty-two people have been confirmed dead after residential buildings collapsed early Monday morning in Wenzhou City in east China’s Zhejiang Province. The disaster happened in Wenzhou’s Lucheng industrial district. About 800 rescuers finished the search at about 1am yesterday after 28 people were pulled from the debris.

Only six survived and are hospitalised. They are in stable conditions. The latest survivor is a young girl who was rescued at 6.45 pm, according to the fire department of Wenzhou City. She was protected by the bodies of her parents, who were killed in the collapse. The cause of the disaster is under investigation.

Rescuers said the collapsed buildings were built by villagers.

Five adjacent houses built in the 1970s remain standing, but rescuers are demolishing them to avoid

secondary disasters.