Chinese rescuers combing the rubble of a collapsed bridge for dozens of missing people recovered seven bodies yesterday, bringing the death toll to 36, as the government warned builders nationwide to learn from the disaster.
The collapse on Monday in the southern town of Fenghuang rekindled concerns about rushed, shoddy building amid China's torrid economic expansion.
Specially trained dogs and bulldozers sifted through mounds of toppled concrete in a bid to find an estimated 30 people missing.
Seven bodies were found early yesterday, said Li Ping (
State Councilor Hua Jianmian (
EYEWITNESSES
Witnesses described hearing a rumble and seeing stones fall from the structure on Monday afternoon after construction workers removed the supportive frame from the 42m high, 268m long vehicle and pedestrian bridge across the Tuo River.
Rescuers managed to save 86 people, including 22 who were injured, many from the 123 workers on the site at the time of the collapse, Xinhua said.
Police detained two officials from the builder, the state-owned Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Co, Xinhua said, even as the Work Safety Administration of Hunan Province, where Fenghuang is located, said the accident's cause was under investigation.
Nong Xiaozhong, one of two survivors in a 12-man construction team working under the bridge, said he and his fellow workers worried the bridge's stone arches were too large and that the mortar was not dry enough to remove the scaffolding.
concerns
The collapse was likely to fuel already deep public concerns about the quality of construction in a country undergoing breakneck economic development and where corruption among contractors and officials is common.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Fenghuang -- an ancient trading town surrounded by lush mountains and rice paddies -- has aggressively promoted itself as a tourist destination.
The Chinese Centers for Disease Control had a team at the scene spraying disinfectant along the river banks to help prevent infections and said they would monitor river water for dangerous levels of bacteria or other contaminants, Xinhua said.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
ON THE LAM: The Brazilian Supreme Court said that the former president tried to burn his ankle monitor off as part of an attempt to orchestrate his escape from Brazil Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro — under house arrest while he appeals a conviction for a foiled coup attempt — was taken into custody on Saturday after the Brazilian Supreme Court deemed him a high flight risk. The court said the far-right firebrand — who was sentenced to 27 years in prison over a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections — had attempted to disable his ankle monitor to flee. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro’s detention was a preventive measure as final appeals play out. In a video made
It is one of the world’s most famous unsolved codes whose answer could sell for a fortune — but two US friends say they have already found the secret hidden by Kryptos. The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far. Yet K4, the final passage, has kept codebreakers scratching their heads. Sculptor Jim Sanborn, 80, has been so overwhelmed by guesses that he started charging US$50 for each response. Sanborn in August announced he would auction the 97-character solution to K4
SHOW OF FORCE: The US has held nine multilateral drills near Guam in the past four months, which Australia said was important to deter coercion in the region Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the northwest Pacific last month, as the US stepped up military exercises, data compiled by a Guam-based group shows. Rapid militarization in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, the Pacific Center for Island Security said, adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict. “If you look at the number of US and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity,” Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an
RSS