Death toll in east China house collapse rises to 10

HANGZHOU, Oct. 10 -- Ten people have been confirmed dead after residential buildings collapsed early Monday morning in Wenzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The disaster happened around 4 a.m. in Wenzhou's Lucheng industrial district.

As of 2:30 p.m., 15 people had been pulled from the debris, but only five survived, according to the district government.

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

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."

According to Zhou Liqiang, who has been living nearby for over ten years, the victims are mainly migrant workers.

Survivor Yan Yongfa, 57, said he shared one room with four other workers and their boss rented the room for them. Each room in the collapsed building used to have two to three tenants, Yan said.

Rescuers are still verifying the number of people who are buried in debris. The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.