Three dead after building collapse

A building collapsed Saturday morning in Fuzhou, Southeast China's Fujian province, leaving three people dead and 14 injured, according to local officials.

The accident occurred at 5:50 am on Feb 16 in Yexia village in the Cangshan district. Built in 2003, the collapsed building was a brick-concrete flat house.

Six of the injured have been discharged from hospital, while the remaining injured are still in hospital for further observation and treatment.

The cause of collapse is still being investigated, and police have detained the owner of the house.

The city has not approved one application for civil house construction since 1998, which means all flat houses built after 1998 are illegal, local authorities said.

Approval departments for civil house construction could also be responsible as 20 years on, procedures for housing-construction approval remain a problem, an authority from the local illegal house management office said, quoted by the Beijing News.

A witness, surnamed Zhuang, said the collapsed house was about four-to-five stories, with an ink-black tin cover.

Fujian village constructions regulations stipulate that rural townhouses built by villagers themselves should not exceed three floors.