Death toll in mosque collapse rises to 8 in Qinghai

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-25 11:44

XINING -- The death toll from the collapse of a mosque in northwest China stood at eight, on Friday after rescuers completed their search of the rubble.

Meanwhile, police have detained a building contractor in connection with the accident, in which a child was among the dead.

"The child was an 8-year-old village boy who was playing around the construction site, when the mosque suddenly collapsed," said Han Lutai, the imam of Xiajiuzhuang Village in Qinghai Province, who raised the fund for the mosque building.

Both Han and the rescuers have confirmed 31 people, all villagers of Hui ethnic group, were at the construction site, when the accident occurred at 5:20 p.m. on Thursday in Taer Town of Datong Hui and Tu Autonomous County.

Seven died at the scene, and one of the four severely injured people taken to hospital died after failing to respond to treatment, said an official with the Qinghai provincial emergency rescue and fire brigade.

The brigade's search ended at 10 am on Friday.

The three badly injured were still in critical condition and 20 others suffered minor injuries.

Han said the construction of the mosque approved by the county government started in May last year, and was almost finished.

Officials have ruled out the earthquake in the neighboring provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi earlier in the day as the cause.

They are investigating the possibility that a supporting beam may have failed.

Taer town, in the center of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau, has a population of more than 38,000, most of whom are ethnic Hui people. It is 44 km from the provincial capital of Xining.