Building collapse toll hits 53 as rescue effort ends
The search for survivors of a building collapse in Changsha, central China has ended, with state media reporting that 53 people had been killed.
Authorities said that as of 3am yesterday, all the missing had been accounted for, according to an online post by state broadcaster CCTV.
In the week since the disaster, rescuers found 10 survivors, including a woman who was trapped for more than five days. She was pulled from the wreckage soon after midnight on Thursday.
All of the survivors were reportedly in good condition after being treated in a hospital.
Aerial photos showed the residential and commercial building pancaked to about the second storey, between other buildings about six storeys high, after collapsing on April 29.
At least nine people have been arrested on suspicion of ignoring building codes or committing other violations.
They include the building owner, three people in charge of design and construction, and five others who allegedly gave a false safety assessment for a guest house on the building’s fourth to sixth floors.
The building also had homes, a cafe and a restaurant.
Rescuers used search dogs, hand tools, drones and electronic life detectors.
In an account of Monday’s rescue of the eighth survivor, state media said rescuers faced an unstable pile of rubble that they had to work around rather than demolish.
Before the rescue, they were able to feed in video equipment to communicate with the girl and establish that one of her legs was trapped. They also fed in saline solution for her to drink.
An increase in the number of collapses of self-built buildings in recent years prompted President Xi Jinping to call for additional checks to uncover weaknesses.
Poor adherence to safety standards, including the illegal addition of extra floors and failure to use reinforcing iron bars, is often blamed for such disasters.