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Factory in East China Collapse Traps More Than 100
A factory on the banks of a river in China's eastern province of Zhejiang collapsed and trapped more than 100 people under rubble and water, a provincial newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The bodies of three workers had been found since the No. 2 Electroplating Factory in Yongjia, some 250 km (150 miles) south of the provincial capital of Hangzhou, collapsed into the Oujiang River on Tuesday night, a senior police officer told reporters.
Five other workers were missing, he said.
The Hangzhou-based Today's Morning newspaper said more than 100 workers were in the factory at the time of the collapse and most of them were feared trapped in the ruins.
"The 17 two-storey factory buildings were built in a row on tall stilts on the shore of the Oujiang River -- at high tides, they stood above water," said a reporter with Hangzhou newspaper Wenzhou Evening News.
The site of the collapse had been flooded twice by tides since Tuesday night, and rescuers had only few hours between tides to clear the ruins and search for victims, she said.
The buildings were illegal constructions once pronounced dangerous by the municipal authorities, an official at the Huangtian government said.
Eleven workers had been rescued alive and rushed to hospital, officials said.
A doctor at Yongjia People's Hospital told reporters three slightly injured workers were released after receiving treatment Tuesday night.
"They said there were more than 100 workers in the factory at the time, but they didn't know what happened to their colleagues," said the doctor.
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