FUZHOU, March 8 (Xinhua) - The death toll has risen to 10 as of 4:00 p.m. Sunday after a hotel building collapsed in east China's Fujian Province Saturday evening, local authorities said.
A woman, the mother of a 12-year-old boy who was saved earlier in the day, was rescued from a collapsed hotel used for quaratining patients in East China. (Video: People' Daily app/Liu Xiaoyu)
Forty-eight people had been rescued and 23 others remain trapped.
The Xinjia Hotel collapsed at around 7:05 p.m. in Licheng District of the city of Quanzhou, trapping 71 people.
A preliminary investigation showed the hotel building was being decorated when the accident occurred and the owner of the building has been put under police control.
(Photo: People's Daily app/Liu Xiaoyu)
Construction of the building, with a floor area of 7,000 square meters, began in 2013. It was converted into a hotel in 2018 with 66 rooms.
Over 1,000 firefighters, police officers and medics have been dispatched to join the rescue work and the Ministry of Emergency Management has sent a work team to Quanzhou to help with the rescue efforts and investigate the cause of the accident.
Further rescue is underway.