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Nine killed in east China residence collapse

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-11 13:39

NANJING -- Nine people are dead and four are missing after a residence rented by workers on the Nanjing-Shanghai intercity railway collapsed Wednesday.

All the occupants of the building in Danyang City, Jiangsu Province, were workers with the China Railways No. 24 Bureau.

Related readings:  7 buried as railway construction site collapses

The collapse took place at 1:45 a.m. at Huiji Village in Lucheng Township, said Xiao Quan, spokesman of Jiangsu Provincial Government, at a specially convened press conference.

The nine fatalities occurred after the injured were taken to hospital. Twenty-one people are still being treated in hospital.

Rescuers were combing through the debris to look for the missing, said Xiao.

The police are investigating the cause of the collapse.

Earlier reports said that the accident occurred on a construction site of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line or Nanjing-Shanghai inter-city railway were incorrect.