China building collapse death toll rises to 53

Map locating Changsha where a building collapsed on April 29, killing dozens of people

Chinese authorities have raised the number of people confirmed dead in a building collapse in Changsha to 53

Fifty-three people died in a building collapse in central China, authorities said Friday, announcing the end of the rescue mission in a disaster which has been blamed on illegal construction.

The commercial building in Changsha city caved in last Friday, prompting over six days of painstaking attempts to pull survivors free from the mass of rubble and twisted metal.

"The trapped and incommunicado people from the accident scene have all been found... 10 people were rescued and 53 people died."

Changsha's top Communist Party official Wu Guiying led other city officials in apologising for the accident and bowed in commemoration of the victims during a Friday briefing.

Officials will "fully cooperate with higher departments to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident ... and give a responsible explanation to the whole of society," Wu vowed.

The block had contained apartments, a hotel and a cinema. The flattened structure, which has left a gaping hole in a dense Changsha streetscape, created a mess of debris and crumbled concrete beams.

Rescuers have been able to find live victims with the help of sniffer dogs, life detectors and drones, as well as from the shouting and knocking of survivors, according to Xinhua news agency.

Eleven people -- including the building's owner and a team of safety inspectors -- have been detained in connection with the collapse, including two people suspected of engaging in "illegal alteration" of the building, according to Changsha authorities.

State media have identified the building as a "self-built residential structure", meaning built by individuals or companies with no state funding. 

President Xi Jinping last week ordered a thorough investigation into the cause of the collapse, an indication of the severity of the disaster.

In January, an explosion triggered by a suspected gas leak brought down a building in the southwest city of Chongqing, killing at least 16 people.

lxc/apj/mtp

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