A 6-storey building in China collapsed in the middle of a funeral, casualties unknown

The scene of the collapse of a 6-storey building in Trường Sa city, Hunan province, China on April 29 afp

The media China reported that a 6-story building in the Trường Sa capital of Hunan province, central China, has fall on April 29. The number of casualties is still unknown.

According to AFP, inside the building is a restaurant, a guesthouse and a cinema.

Fire Department Hunan said in a Weibo post that it was notified of the accident at 12:22pm. In the version updates At around 4pm on April 29, the agency said a number of people had been rescued, but did not specify how many.

According to CGTN, by the morning of April 30, 5 people had been rescued from the rubble and taken to the hospital. Rescue work is still going on.

It is not clear how many people were in the building when the accident happened. However, the Chinese newspaper The Metropolis Daily quoted the owner of a nearby restaurant as saying that at the time of the incident, a funeral was being held in the building.

The Trường Sa city government said the building is located near the north gate of Trường Sa Medical University and is a brick-and-concrete residential area with a floor area of ​​about 800 square meters.². Video released by local media showed the incident creating a large dust cloud in the area.

State TV station CCTV Truong Sa Fire Department said that the Truong Sa Fire Department sent 23 fire engines, 134 firefighters and rescuers and 4 sniffer dogs to the scene.

Jimu News quoted a seller near this area as saying the building was built more than 10 years ago.

It is not uncommon for constructions to collapse on their own in China due to low safety standards and corruption.

In January, an explosion suspected of a gas leak caused a building in the city of Chongqing to collapse, killing more than a dozen people.