The seven-story hotel in China that was used as a place of quarantine for potentially patients with coronavirus, collapsed. At least 10 people were killed, another 23 were missing.
According to the Ministry of emergency situations of China, 38 people have been rescued and sent to hospital.
Xinjia Express hotel is located in the South-Eastern Chinese port city of Quanzhou, Fujian province.
«I was at the gas station and heard a loud noise. I raised my head, and the whole building collapsed. Everywhere there was dust around flying glass fragments, — said the witness in a video posted by Miaopai. — I was so scared that my hands and feet are trembling.»
Quanzhou is a port city on the Taiwan Strait in Fujian province with a population of over 8 million people.
Xinjia Express hotel to collapse. Credit: Twitter
According to the Quanzhou, the building, built in 2013, it was converted into a hotel of 66 rooms, which opened in June 2018.
Authorities added that of the 71 people in the hotel when it collapsed, 58 were quarantined.
Thirty-four people had been rescued from a collapsed hotel in China that was being used as a coronavirus quarantine. https://t.co/rOavmWak8v pic.twitter.com/GZojEiJrA8
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) on March 7, 2020
The building collapsed on Saturday at about 19:30 local time (11:30 GMT). Approximately four hours after the collapse, the municipality of Quanzhou has reported that 38 out of 70 people who were in Quanzhou hotel Sinitta was saved.
Edition of People’s Daily on Twitter has published a video of the destroyed building.
Security cam recorded the moment of the hotel collapsing in SE China’s Fujian on Sat night, trapping around 70 people under the debris. So far 40 people have been rescued. pic.twitter.com/QHbmPdRkOJ
— People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) March 7, 2020
Video posted on the government website, Beijing News shows that rescuers in orange jumpsuits clamber over the rubble and twisted metal, carrying the wounded to the waiting medical personnel in white coveralls and surgical masks.
Saturday night at the scene of a rescue force of over 1000 people.
The municipality said that 36 of rescue machinery, such as cranes and excavators, 67 fire engines, 15 ambulances and more than 700 firefighters, medical and other rescuers were at the scene as the rescue operation continued into the night.
A woman named Chen told Beijing News that her relatives, including a sister, were quarantined in a hotel, as provided by local regulations, after the return of Hubei province, where the coronavirus.
She said they had to leave soon after 14 days of isolation.
«I can’t contact them, they do not answer their phones, she said. — I also quarantined (in another hotel), and very worried. I don’t know what to do. They were healthy, and each day she measured its temperature, and tests showed that everything was fine.»
As of Sunday morning, about 30 people remain under the rubble, state media reports.
The official news Agency Xinhua reported that the Committee responsible for work safety under the State Council of the government of China has dispatched emergency working group.
At least 10 dead after coronavirus hotel quarantine in China collapsed https://t.co/Y52DknEWjI
— The Independent (@Independent) March 8, 2020
As the Independent reported, citing state media Xinhua, the cause of the collapse is established, and the owner of the building, the man surnamed Yan, was caused by the police.
Two supermarkets on the ground floor was refitted, and, according to an official in charge of housing construction and development, this caused the deformation of the supporting structure and its collapse.
