Coronavirus Quarantine Hotel in China Collapses

• A coronavirus quarantine hotel in China collapsed Saturday.
• 70 people were trapped under the building in Quanzhou, Fujian.
• 28 have been rescued so far as teams pull victims from the rubble.

A hotel in China collapsed around 7pm local time Saturday in Fujian, China while the building was being used as a quarantine location for people infected with coronavirus.

Also staying in the building were people who had had recent contact with others suffering from COVID-19. There are currently 80,651 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in China. Meanwhile official Chinese death tolls from the disease have surpassed 3,000.

Fujian, China is located on the Southeast Chinese coast near Taiwan.

Rescue Teams Scour Coronavirus Quarantine Hotel

Chinese newspaper, The People’s Daily reported the emergency with stunning video footage of rescue teams scouring the rubble using spotlights in the dark hours late Saturday evening. The exact number of people in the building at the time of the collapse is unknown. But authorities say around 70 people were in it.

By 9pm local time, sources in China say rescuers had pulled 28 people from the rubble.

So far no sources have yet reported any known cause of the collapse.

“Thought It Was An Explosion”

The South China Morning Post reports a man who lives on the same street as the hotel heard what he thought was a loud explosion. He ran outside and saw the entire hotel building had collapsed:

I was just having dinner and I suddenly heard a loud bang and thought it was an explosion. It was not until I ran to my balcony that I saw that the entire hotel building had collapsed.

But according to the BBC there are five reasons why buildings collapse:

1. The foundations are too weak.
2. The building materials aren’t strong enough.
3. Workers make mistakes.
4. The load is heavier than expected.
5. The strength isn’t tested.

CCN is following developments to this story and will make updates here.