QUANZHOU-(MaraviPost)-About 70 people have been trapped in a five-storey hotel that was used for coronavirus quarantine after it collapsed in the south-east Chinese port city of Quanzhou on Saturday, 7 March, 2020.
Quanzhou municipality confirmed the incident on their website.
Reports have revealed that the hotel that was opened in June 2018 with 80 rooms collapsed at about 7.30pm and 34 people were rescued in the following two hours with several others still trapped.
In interview with Chinese state media, one eyewitness disclosed that he was at a nearby gas station when he heard a loud noise and he saw the whole building collapsing with dust and glass fragments everywhere.
As reported by Reuters, one witness revealed that her relatives including her sister who are under quarantine at the hotel were not responding to their cellphones after being contacted and were expected to return home after the 14 days isolation period.
Quanzhou is a port city on the Taiwan Strait in the province of Fujian with a population of more than eight million.
The Fujian provincial government said that as of Friday, the province had 296 cases of coronavirus and 10,819 people had been placed under observation after being classified as suspected close contacts
Meanwhile, the committee responsible for working safety under the State Council, China’s Cabinet, had sent an emergency working team to the site.
People have however demanded a investigation into the matter to establish how the hotel collapsed.
