BEIJING, July 24 (Portal) – The concrete roof of a school gym collapsed in the Chinese city of Qiqihar, killing 11 people, state media reported on Monday. Many of the victims were believed to be young volleyball players.
Authorities said illegal stacking of materials on the roof may have caused the collapse, Xinhua reported.
Initially, 15 people were trapped under the rubble and state media learned at 10:00 am (02:00 GMT) that authorities had pulled out the last person buried underneath, a student who showed no signs of life.
The collapse at No. 34 middle school in Longsha District in Qiqihar, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, was reported at 2:56 pm (0656 GMT) Sunday, according to the provincial Fire and Rescue Service, Xinhua said.
At the time, a women’s volleyball team was training in the gym, a man told China Youth Daily while anxiously awaiting news of his 16-year-old daughter at the local hospital.
The students “had only returned to school a few days earlier after an out-of-town competition,” an eyewitness told state radio.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the victims were adults, but state broadcaster reported on Sunday that the team’s coach was buried under the rubble.
When the accident happened, 19 people were in the gym, four were able to escape, authorities said.
In a video that went viral on social media, an angry and distraught father said the government sent police to monitor the parents but sent no one to update them on their children.
[1/2]Firefighters transport equipment during a rescue operation at the site where the roof of a school gym collapsed in Qiqihar, China’s Heilongjiang province, July 24, 2023. cnsphoto via Portal
“I was told my daughter was gone, but we never saw the child. All of the children had faces covered in mud and blood when they were taken to the hospital. I begged, please let me identify the child. What if that wasn’t my child?” the man said.
An aerial view of the scene from social media images showed a completely collapsed roof with rescue workers in the gym next to large concrete blocks.
Other images showed large cranes being hoisted up the side of the school building as rescue work continued.
The region and several parts of China experienced heavy rains this weekend, causing flooding and damage in some areas.
A preliminary investigation found that during the construction of a teaching building next to the gymnasium, construction workers illegally placed perlite, a mineral with high water content that can absorb water, on the roof of the gymnasium, Xinhua reported.
During sustained rains, the perlite soaked up water and gained weight, causing the roof to collapse, state media said.
The accident was condemned in an editorial by The Beijing News, a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, which criticized the lack of construction supervision.
“Only by genuinely respecting building standards, respecting safety, and strengthening oversight and management of the construction process can we avoid repeating the same mistake,” it says.
An investigation is underway and people responsible for the construction company have been taken into police custody, Xinhua said.
Coverage of newsrooms in Beijing and Shanghai; writing by Bernard Orr; Edited by Michael Perry and Bernadette Baum
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