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4 killed, 17 missing after subway tunnel collapses

By Wang Hongyi and Gao Erqiang in Hangzhou, and Xie Chuanjiao in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-17 07:14

Four workers have been confirmed dead in the accident that took place in Xiaoshan, a Hangzhou suburb.

State leaders, including Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, have ordered that no efforts should be spared to look for the workers still missing.

"We should at all costs rescue the wounded and do everything for the safely of the injured and the missing," a directive from the State leaders said, according to Zhejiang Television.

"Causes of the accident should be investigated thoroughly and the findings made clear as soon as possible," the directive said.

The workers who survived the incident are still in a state of shock. Fang Fuze, 41, burst into tears when reporters approached to interview him.

"We tried to use the crane to pull our colleagues out But there were so many of them inside (the crater) and some could not grip the crane and fell into the crater again.

"We could hear them calling for help from the bottom of the crater but we could do nothing to help them," he said.

Local authorities have arranged for accommodations for the relatives and friends of the dead and missing who have gathered at the accident site. Compensation packages for death and injuries will be announced soon, officials said.

About 2,000 rescuers are searching round the clock for the missing people. But the most optimistic estimate says it could take up to three days to complete a thorough search because the collapsed stretch of the road has taken with it machines, vehicles and building materials, said Chen Yunmin, head of the architecture department of Zhejiang University.

The professor, also a member of the accident emergency rescue team, said workers were working to move the collapsed steel columns because only after they do so would a rescue team be able to dig underground.

"According to the current progress it would take at least another three days, therefore the chances of the missing people still being alive is very slim," Chen said.

The subsidence has caused cracks in some nearby buildings, creating fear among people living or working in then, Zhejiang TV said.

Four houses have to be pulled down soon and the residents shifted elsewhere.

The nearby Xiangchao primary school, too, has been damaged. Students were told to take a day off on Monday, according to a school official, Cai Renlin. All the 35 subway construction sites in Hangzhou stopped work on Sunday to enable experts to conduct underground safety checks to rule out any potential risks.

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