More survivors found two days after China building collapse, dozens missing

Rescuers have pulled a pair of survivors from a collapsed building in central China, two days into a search-and-rescue operation for dozens feared missing.

The building in Changsha city, Hunan province — which housed a hotel, apartments, and a cinema — caved in Friday afternoon, leaving a gaping hole in the dense streetscape.

City officials on Saturday said five survivors had been pulled out of the structure. There are now 16 people believed to remain trapped, according to authorities, while no contact has been made with nearly 40 others.

More than 50 hours into the rescue effort, a seventh person was rescued on Sunday evening, state broadcaster CCTV reported after rescuers “detected signs of life” earlier that afternoon.

“When she was discovered, she was in relatively good condition. Her vital signs were quite stable and she could hold a normal conversation with rescuers outside,” a CCTV reporter on the scene said, adding the woman had been separated from rescuers by a wall one meter thick.

CCTV showed footage of an ambulance driving the survivor to the hospital, while rescuers worked with a digger in the background.

Another survivor was pulled from the rubble earlier Sunday, as CCTV broadcasts images of firefighters hauling a person covered in dust onto a gurney.

Changsha’s mayor earlier vowed to “spare no effort” in their search for the people still trapped.

He added that over 700 first responders had been dispatched to the scene.

Nine arrested

No cause for the disaster has yet been given by authorities.

Changsha police said nine people — including the building’s owner and a team of safety inspectors — were detained on Sunday in connection to the accident.

They alleged that surveyors had falsified a safety audit of the building.

Following an increase in the number of collapses of self-built buildings in recent years, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that it was necessary to check such structures for any hidden dangers and fix them to prevent major accidents, Xinhua reported.

Xi called for a search “at all cost” and ordered a thorough investigation into the cause of the collapse, state media said.