10 killed after houses collapse in eastern China

At least 10 people were killed today when four residential buildings collapsed in eastern China's coastal Zhejiang Province.

Fifteen people had been pulled out of the debris but only five survived, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Rescuers were verifying the number of people trapped under the debris in Wenzhou's Lucheng industrial district.

They said the collapsed six-storey buildings were built by villagers themselves. Five adjacent houses built in the 1970s remain standing, but rescuers were demolishing them to avoid secondary accidents.

Sun Jing, an officer with the city's fire department, said the debris was as high as a three-story building. "To protect those who are trapped, we are mainly digging with our bare hands, so that work is going slowly."
 

The cause of the collapse was under investigation.

Several buildings have collapsed in recent years in China mainly due to poor construction.

In May, 16 people were reported dead after a residential building in Guizhou province in the southwest collapsed due to landslides.

Two people were killed and 24 injured in April when a storm brought down a wholesale market building in Foshan city, in the southern province of Guangdong.