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Studio collapse blamed on poor construction
By Zhao Yanrong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-15 07:54
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Poor construction is to blame for the collapse of a television studio on Sunday, police said, as the number of injured people rose to 18 yesterday.
About 45 people were sitting in the audience when the three-story studio at the Beijing Vocational College of Agriculture collapsed about 10 am, seriously injuring eight elderly people.
The audience was preparing for the taping of Jiapian Youyu, which is broadcast on CCTV-6 every Saturday from 10 pm to midnight.
Fangshan police said production company Yinhe Xingkong Mass Communication Co Ltd had poorly constructed the studio.
"The pavilion was set up right before the program shooting, but its quality was not good enough to support so many people," a police officer surnamed Han said.
"The program producer, Yinhe Xingkong Mass Communication Co Ltd, takes full responsibility for the incident."
Ren Guixiang, the deputy director of the Beijing Beiya Orthopedic Hospital, where the injured are being treated, said: "All audience members underwent a health check after the collapse on Sunday, and eight suffered serious injuries to their back or lumbar spine," Ren said.
"They are all elderly people who are easily injured. The situation of all patients is stable, but it will take at least a couple of months for their injuries to fully heal."
Yinhe Xingkong Mass Communication Co Ltd will pay all medical fees for the injured audience members, the hospital said.
Meanwhile, the local government shut down the studio owned by Star's Home, which rented the premises to the production company.
"We only provide the studio to the program, so we do not have a direct responsibility for this incident," a press officer surnamed Yin from Star's Home said.
"But if we did checks before the program started, the accident could have be avoided. That's the lesson we learned this time."
The program producer could not be reached for comment yesterday.
