At least twenty-three people were trapped on Saturday, and thirty-nine others remained unreachable, the day after the collapse of a building in Changsha. The rescuers always try to make their way in the rubble.
Le Monde with AFP
Dozens of people were stuck or missing, Saturday, April 30, the day after the collapse, the cause of which is still unknown, of a building in the center of China. The eight-story building, which housed a hotel, apartments and a cinema, collapsed Friday afternoon in the city of Changsha.
At least twenty-three people were trapped on Saturday at the end of the day, while thirty-nine others remained unreachable, said the mayor of Changsha, Zheng Jianxin. No death has been announced at the moment. “The situation of disappeared people is the subject of an in -depth evaluation,” said the mayor.
According to city authorities, five people were saved by rescuers overnight. The rescuers were still trying, on Saturday, to make their way in the rubble. They used circular saws to identify several survivors. The state media showed firefighters cutting through a tangle of metal and concrete, while the rescuers shouted in an attempt to communicate with the survivors. Some injured were transported on stretchers, while sniff dogs walked the area to try to find signs of life. 2>
XI Jinping orders an in -depth investigation
The authorities have not yet given an explanation to this disaster. CCTV state television has nevertheless reported that “tenants had made structural changes to the premises to various degrees”.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, ordered an in -depth investigation into the cause of collapse and called to seek the victims “at any cost”, according to the state media. A senior communist party official was dispatched to the scene, which testifies to the gravity of the disaster. The State Councilor Wang Yong, appointed by the central government, was sent to lead a team responsible for “guiding rescue and emergency intervention operations”, according to an official statement published on Saturday.
This type of disaster occurs frequently in China, due to poor respect for the safety rules and the laxity of the services supposed to ensure their good application.
In January, an explosion probably triggered by a gas leak had affected a building in the city of Chongqing, located some 1,700 kilometers west of Shanghai, killing at least sixteen. The explosion of gas driving in a residential area in June 2021 had killed twenty-five in the province of Hubei (center). The same month, eighteen people had been killed when a fire started in a martial arts school. All victims were students in the boarding school.