Chinese Alarm After Second Gym Collapse In Heilongjiang Province
Chinese people have expressed alarm online after a second gymnasium collapsed in Heilongjiang province in months, killing three people.
The three victims are middle school students, state news agency Xinhua reports.
The cave-in on Monday night came after days of unseasonably cold weather and snowfall.
Video online showed rescuers scrabbling through snow-covered concrete rubble on a basketball court to find survivors.
Another video shared widely on Chinese social media showed a woman in an icy street, running towards the building while yelling: “My son! My son is in there.”
On Tuesday, Authorities confirmed three were killed and one seriously injured inside the Yuecheng Gym Stadium in Jiamusi city.
Authorities said they had detained a person in charge of the gym- and gave no further details. It’s still unclear what caused the second-floor collapse.
As news of the disaster spread online, many drew immediate comparisons with another gymnasium collapse in the province earlier this year which killed 11 people.
In July, the concrete roof of a school gymnasium in Qiqihar city collapsed after days of heavy rain.
Authorities said the roof had been weighed down by construction materials left by contractors, and conducted checks of other buildings in the area after the tragedy.
BBC
