A building in east China’s Hangzhou city collapsed on Monday injuring four people.
Firefighters said that two workers trapped in the building were rescued and sent to hospital. Another two employees of a ground floor boutique managed to escape by themselves.
Rescuers said all the four workers suffered minor injuries.
Epoch Times quoted a witness as saying that a loud bang was heard when the building collapsed. Mainland media reported that the building was built in 1979 with an expected lifespan of 40 years. The building was intended to be used as public housing.
An employee of the boutique said the walls of the shop had already been ripped open before the accident, according to Tencent News. The pillars of the house were oblique and the shopkeeper was planning to hire someone to check the safety of the building. Tencent News also reported that an additional floor was built on top of the structure illegally.
Debris was seen scattered across the street.
An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the incident, authorities said.
