Eleven dead after school gym roof collapses in China
24 July 2023, 10:24
Builders working at the school had stored materials that absorbed rain water on the gym’s roof, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Eleven people were killed when a school gym’s roof collapsed in China’s far northeast, authorities have said.
The collapse happened on Sunday in the city of Qiqihar and the last victim was pulled from the wreckage on Monday morning.
Builders working at the school had stored materials that absorbed rain water on the roof, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Nineteen people were in the gym, at the No 34 Middle School, Xinhua said, but it gave no details on how many were pupils.
Social media and the Baidu news website carried footage of angry parents complaining about what they said was a lack of communication from authorities.
Such expressions of anger and defiance are usually quickly suppressed by police and government departments worried over social unrest.
The ruling Communist Party allows no challenges to its authority and seeks to keep total control over the press and social media.
Construction and industrial accidents are regular occurrences in China, largely resulting from companies ignoring safety standards and corruption or a lack of diligence on the part of local government agencies.
Those problems are especially acute in second and third-tier cities such as Qiqihar, which lies in the Chinese rustbelt province of Heilongjiang bordering Russia that has seen large-scale economic decline and outward migration in recent years.
