Seven people are reported to have died after four residential buildings collapsed in the morning of 2 February in Wenzhou, an industrial city in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, Chinese media report.
The buildings, four to five storeys tall in Dahui village, Baizhangji township, collapsed at around 8am, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The death toll of seven was reported by newspaper China Daily, although it may rise as rescue operations are still underway, and nine people are thought still to be buried.
China Daily reports that a 63-year-old woman was pulled alive from debris at about 10:40pm on 2 February, local time, and another female survivor was rescued at about 7am Friday, 3 February.
"The scene is quite chaotic, as if the place had been levelled by an earthquake," a rescuer told Xinhua by telephone. "We have to work very carefully because the wreckages of the ruined buildings are joined to homes still standing."
An investigation has been launched into the cause of the accident.
In October 2016, 22 people were killed near Wenzhou when a cluster of decrepit homes tumbled to the ground.
Image: Rescuers working at the accident site in Wenzhou City of east China’s Zhejiang Province on 2 February (Xinhua)
