AT LEAST 7 ARE DEAD AND 14 MORE STILL MISSING after a subway tunnel under construction collapsed in Hangzhou, China, Saturday afternoon.
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A 150-ft.-wide section of roadway directly over the shoddy tunnel fell into the crater plunging several cars and their occupants into the void. The Xinhua News Agency says that all of the cars’ passengers were rescued successfully. Those killed and missing are construction workers.
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AFP photo
GulfNews.com is reporting:
Poor construction quality is a chronic problem in China and is often blamed on bad planning, shoddy work or theft of materials.
The official Xinhua News Agency said rescuers were still pumping out water that had seeped into the tunnel from a nearby river and stood at 3-metre-deep.
Those missing were believed to be construction workers, Xinhua said.
“There is a slim chance for the survival of trapped workers because of heavy flooding in the crater,” Xinhua quoted Wang Guangrong, spokesman for the rescue team, as saying on Sunday.
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Water from a nearby river is pouring through
a fissure into the tunnel hindering rescue efforts.
AFP photo
More than 1,000 policemen and firefighters are participating in the rescue effort. As mentioned above, water from the river immediately started flooding the construction zone after the collapse and much effort is being put toward pumping it out faster than it’s coming in.
Several nearby homes were evacuated because of instability and two of them have already been demolished.
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Rescuers demolish a house that was severly damaged
and threatening the rescue efforts. (Reuters)
Rescue efforts are continuing today.
The Associated Press has this video report:
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