Chinese authorities have raised the death toll from a building collapse in central China to 53, state media reported on Friday, 6 May, announcing the end of the rescue mission.
The commercial building in Changsha city caved in the previous Friday (29 April), prompting over six days of painstaking attempts to pull survivors free from the mass of rubble and twisted metal.
‘The search and rescue work at the Changsha building collapse site has been completed,’ state broadcaster CCTV said.
‘The trapped and incommunicado people from the accident scene have all been found… 10 people were rescued and 53 people died.’
The 10th person pulled alive from the rubble just after midnight on Thursday had been buried in debris for nearly six days, state media reported earlier.
The confirmed number of dead from the collapse had previously been 26 as at Thursday evening.
For more information, go to www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-building-collapse-death-toll-rises-to-53-rescue-mission-ends
