Scores Trapped As China Hotel Used For Coronavirus Quarantine Collapses

In China on Saturday March 7, a five-storey hotel being used to quarantine suspected cases of coronavirus in the southeast Chinese port city of Quanzhou collapses,   leaving atleast 70 people trapped.

Phootage shared from the scene of the incident showed rescue workers in orange overalls clambering over the rubble of the Quanzhou Xinjia Hotel and carrying people towards ambulances.

Not sure what caused the collapse at the time of filing this report, it was however gathered that about 35 people have been pulled from the rubble. The hotel reportedly opened in 2018 and had 80 guest rooms.

According to an eyewitness in a video posted on the Miaopai streaming app;

“I was at a gas station and heard a loud noise. I looked up and the whole building collapsed. Dust was everywhere, and glass fragments were flying around.
“I was so terrified that my hands and legs were shivering.”

On Friday March 6, the Fujian provincial government said the province of Quanzhou, which is a port city on the Taiwan Strait with a population of more than eight million people, had 296 confirmed coronavirus cases.

The provincial government added 10,819 people had been placed under observation after being classed as suspected close contacts.