Black building behind catastrophic housing shortage

Black building behind catastrophic housing shortage

Published: Less than 40 min ago

full screen Rescuers carry down an injured person after the building collapse in Changsha 2022. File photo. Photo: Shen Hong/New China/AP/TT

A nine-story building collapsed in the Chinese city of Changsha last April. 54 people died and at least 9 more were injured.

Now, investigators in Hunan Province have arrived at the cause of the house collapse: black construction and the authorities’ failure to check that the correct standards were met.

Nine people have so far been arrested for involvement in the construction fraud. Among other things, the investigators have concluded that the house was exactly nine stories high, despite the fact that it was officially only a six-story building and originally only had five stories.

The extra weight added by the top floors was one of the reasons the entire foundation of the house collapsed.

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