Mother and Son Rescued from Rubble of Collapsed Hotel After Being Trapped for 52 Hours
A mother and her 10-year-old son were rescued alive after spending 52 hours trapped beneath the debris of a Chinese hotel that collapsed Saturday.
The hotel, located in the city of Quanzhou, had been serving as a quarantine site for people exposed to the coronavirus, Time reported.
A total of 71 people were inside the hotel when it collapsed Saturday night, leaving 20 people dead and 10 people missing as of Tuesday.
10-year-old boy and his mother rescued 52 hours after being trapped in collapse of virus quarantine site in southeastern China. https://t.co/LNT8eweJnS
— ABC News (@ABC) March 10, 2020
Rescuers have been working frantically to try and find the missing bodies, wearing protective gear and face masks while digging through the mounds of rubble.
On Monday, after hours of grueling effort, rescue workers freed the boy and his mother, who were both still alive more than two days after the building fell.
Video footage showed the dramatic and emotional moment that first responders pulled the boy and his mother out of a sea of wreckage.
They were laid on stretchers and escorted to a waiting ambulance.
Sounds of hopefulness and relief could be heard from among the workers after seeing the pair alive, perhaps renewing their resolve to continue searching for the remaining missing people as time surges forward.
Officials are investigating the building collapse to determine the cause, The Associated Press reported.
The outlet added that the building, most recently a hotel, had been illegally reconstructed several times since its initial 2013 build.
At the time of the collapse, two supermarkets on the first floor of the hotel were being remodeled, and a weak pillar reportedly deformed just moments before the collapse, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, according to the AP.
About 70 people are trapped after a hotel collapsed in the Chinese city of Quanzhou, officials sayhttps://t.co/6ZF0ZQOA6a
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 7, 2020
Shang Yong, deputy head of China’s Ministry of Emergency Management, told reporters that officials found to be responsible for the building’s collapse would face justice.
For the majority of people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, with recovery in about two weeks, the AP reported.
There was no word on the medical status of the boy or his mother at this time.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
