3 students dead and club boss detained after gym collapses amid snowstorm in northeastern China
- Anti-corruption authorities investigate after middle school students playing basketball killed by collapse: state media
- In the same province, 11 were killed after the gym roof at a middle school in Qiqihar collapsed after a rainstorm
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Gymnasium collapse kills 3 in northern China
The owner of a gym in China’s northeastern province of Heilongjiang has been detained after three middle school students died and two were injured when the building collapsed.
The cave-in occurred at the two-storey building in Huanan county at 7.20pm on Monday, the county government said on its WeChat account on Tuesday morning. The rescue operation ended at 12.35am on Tuesday.
Seven middle school students were playing basketball in the gym at the time of the failure. Three of the four students trapped by the collapse died, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xinhua reported that two students were hurt and were in hospital on Tuesday afternoon but neither had life-threatening injuries. The remaining two students were not hurt in the gym collapse.
Officials and local anti-corruption authorities in the county and the city of Jiamusi, which oversees Huanan, were investigating the incident.
A local official was quoted in mainland media reports as saying the collapse was linked to heavy snowfall.
On Monday afternoon, authorities in Huanan issued a red alert for snowstorms – the highest in China’s four-tier warning system – and urged local businesses to close “if necessary”. Chongqing-based Upstream News reported that the gym was open on Monday.
