BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th March, 2020) Fifty people were pulled from under the debris of a hotel that collapsed Saturday in the eastern Chinese province of Fujian, two of them were found dead, local media reported on Sunday.
The hotel, which came down in the city of Quanzhou at around 7:30 p.m. local time (11:30 GMT), housed people who had contact with coronavirus patients, the Xinjinbao daily reported, citing an emergencies official. Around 70 people are believed to be trapped under the wreckage of the Xinjia Express hotel. The possible cause of the collapse remains unknown.
According to The Beijing news newspaper, by 8.20 a.m. Sunday (12:20 GMT), rescuers managed to pull 50 people from under the rubble, but two of them had no signs of life.
The hotel had isolated citizens from areas of the dire coronavirus epidemic, such as Hubei and Wenzhou in Zhejiang. The hotel guests were neither infected nor even suspected to be infected. They were compulsory quarantined, as they could have potentially been in close contact with the coronavirus patients.
The hotel was located in a six-story building and opened in June 2018, it had 80 rooms.
There are currently 80,695 confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China (a week ago, there were 79,824). Over 20,500 are currently being treated for, more than 5,260 of them are in serious condition. The total death toll in China now stands at 3,097.
