BEIJING: Twelve people died after a shoe factory collapsed in eastern China, state media reported on Sunday, with more than 40 escaping on their own or being rescued.

More than 50 people were in the four-storey building in the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province when it came down on Saturday afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Thirty-three suffered injuries, four of them serious, the report said. Nine others escaped unharmed, it added.

The cause of the collapse was being investigated.

“There was no premonition,” the report quoted worker Yang Zhongkun as saying. “I heard a ‘bang’ and saw the building collapse.” Yang added that water flowed down from a large fishing pool on the roof of the building, while other employees said leaking water was reported before the building gave way, Xinhua said.

A total of 53 fire trucks, 302 rescuers and five rescue dogs responded to the collapse, the report said.

Photos circulating on Chinese social media showed a man being carried on a stretcher by what appeared to be police officers, while rescuers and other personnel stood on top of the rubble.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2015

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