China quarantine hotel collapse kills 10

BEIJING: At least ten people were killed in the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in eastern China, authorities said Sunday, with 23 others still feared trapped in the rubble.

Rescuers pulled 48 people from the wreckage, of whom 38 are still alive, the Ministry of Emergency Management said on social media.

The building in the coastal city of Quanzhou had been repurposed to house people who recently had contact with patients confirmed with COVID-19, the state-run People´s Daily newspaper reported.

The city has recorded 47 cases of the virus.

Video posted online by the ministry´s firefighting department showed rescuers helping children don surgical masks before pulling them from the remains of the six-storey Xinjia hotel.

A 12-year-old boy told rescuers his mother was still buried in the rubble.

“She was next to me just now,” he said in the video. His mother was rescued alive hours later, according to the ministry.