Separately, police arrested nine people, including the owner of the building, on suspicion of causing a major accident due to liability, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
State television station CCTV showed rescuers videotaping a woman in a stretcher at about 4:30 p.m. local time. Some were heard shouting words of encouragement during the operation. He was taken to hospital and is in stable condition, CCTV reported. State media reported that another person was pulled alive that night, but gave no details.
Seven people were rescued from the building, which collapsed on Friday afternoon in the inland city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. Another 20 remained trapped, while another 39 were not recorded until late Saturday.
In addition to the owner, police said they arrested three people responsible for the design and construction and five others for what he said was a false security assessment for a hostel on the fourth to sixth floors of the building.
Rescuers are working next to an excavator at the site of the building’s collapse on Saturday. (cnsphoto / Reuters)
In the photos, the building appeared to have fallen to about the second floor, leaving debris strewn on the sidewalk. He was standing in a row of buildings about six stories high.
Xinhua said the building had eight floors, including a restaurant on the second floor, a cafe on the third floor and a residence on the top two floors. Other media reports said it was a six-story building. Residents had made structural alterations to the building, but the cause of the collapse remained under investigation, Xinhua reported.
Police said Hunan Xiangda Engineering Testing Co. issued the false security report on 13 April. The arrested included the legal representative of the company and four technicians who are suspected of the evaluation.
Following the increase in the number of self-constructed buildings collapsing in recent years, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that such structures needed to be inspected for hidden hazards and repaired to avoid major accidents, Xinhua reported.
Poor compliance with safety standards, including the illegal addition of extra floors and the inability to use reinforcing iron bars, is often blamed for such disasters.
