At about 9 pm on August 30, night fell in Chenzhuang Village, Linfen City, Shanxi. The whole village gradually became quiet. However, a hotel in the village had collapsed, and the cordon at the door of the restaurant reminded it. Many hours ago, an accident that caused dozens of casualties just happened here.
At about 9:40 am on August 29, a hotel in Chenzhuang Village collapsed. According to CCTV News, the rescue work ended at more than 3 am on the 30th. A total of 57 people were rescued, of which 29 were killed, 7 were seriously injured, and 21 Minor injuries.
A reporter from the Beijing News learned that the hotel where the accident occurred was called Juxian Hotel. In the past ten years or so, it has undergone many rebuilding and expansion. The location of the accident was the banquet hall inside the hotel. It was originally a yard. Later, the banquet hall was built with a roof over it. It has been built for more than 12 years. A rescue team member told the Beijing News that the roof above the banquet hall was built with prefabricated slabs and reinforced with a layer of cement. "It is easy to collapse after a long time."
At the time of the incident, the hotel was holding an 80-year-old birthday banquet for an old man in a neighboring village. At that time, many guests escaped by listening to the opera outside the hotel. After the accident, nearly a hundred rescue team members rushed to the scene to start the rescue and kill after the rescue. At present, the hotel where the incident occurred has been blocked, and the owner of the hotel has also been controlled. The lawyer said that the restaurant owner may be held criminally responsible.
On August 29, the Work Safety Committee of the State Council listed the accident to supervise the incident, requesting Shanxi Province to investigate the accident, and submit the accident investigation report to the Office of the State Council Safety Committee for review and approval before publishing it to the public. On August 30, the Shanxi Provincial People's Government established a major accident investigation team for the collapse of the "August 29" hotel in Xiangfen County. Currently, the investigation is still ongoing.
An 80-year-old birthday banquet was being held in the hotel at the time of the incident
If this accident did not happen, a happy event would have been held in the Juxian Hotel.
On August 29th, it was the 80th birthday banquet of Uncle Li, a villager in Anli Village, just across the road from Chenzhuang Village. Many relatives and neighbors came to celebrate and help.
Uncle Li loves music and can play the erhu. He usually helps with the art and literature propaganda team in the village. Therefore, "While I am eighty years old, everyone will give me a celebration." Uncle Li told the Beijing News reporter that he had never wanted to host a banquet, but he couldn't hold back others who kept persuading him. Under the control of the people around, the birthday banquet was chosen at the neighboring Juxian Hotel.
A villager said that the Juxian Hotel has a good reputation in the surrounding area. “There are banquets in the village at his house. Usually it can set up 20 or 30 tables and accommodate one or two hundred people.” A villager in Anli Village told A reporter from the Beijing News, the day before the incident, the Juxian Hotel had just held a banquet for a hundred people. "The children of our village family held a 12-year-old birthday party. More than 100 people participated. After that, everyone went home individually."
In order to make everyone happy, on the 29th, a stage was set up outside the hotel. Before the birthday banquet, many guests gathered outside to watch the theater, and the atmosphere was peaceful and lively.
Wang Jiabao, a villager in Anli Village, also came to celebrate his birthday. At about 9:40 in the morning, Wang Jiabao was fascinated by the drama. He only heard a sound of "crash", "The prefabricated board on the hotel has collapsed." One injured person said afterwards that they were chatting in the banquet hall at the time. “There was no chance to react. The roof fell down with a click, there was no sign at all.”
Villager Li Xueyan was in the hotel at the time. Li Xueyan recalled that he was afraid that there would be no seats at noon, so he occupied a seat with some women and children in the village. Just as he got up and gave the congratulatory gift, the collapse happened. He and a few poker players jumped out of the window and escaped.
When the banquet hall collapsed, Uncle Li was welcoming opera singers outside the house. “At that time, he couldn’t walk. It was someone who helped him get in the car and sent home.” A villager said, “Thank you for this stage, many people are here. I didn’t enter the banquet hall while watching the theater, otherwise more people would be suppressed."
A rescuer also confirmed that the banquet had not yet begun when the building collapsed. Most of the guests who arrived early were listening to the show at the entrance of the hotel, and only a small number of people were at the scene of the incident. Most of them were older women.
After the collapse, “the people inside were all messed up, and many people dig hard on the ruins, looking for people from their homes.” Li Xueyan said. However, because the collapsed board was too large and heavy, it could not be moved by manpower alone.
On August 30, local officials announced the list of 29 people killed in the collapse of the Juxian Hotel. Among them, 24 people were killed in Anli Village where Uncle Li was located, and Uncle Li's 78-year-old wife also died in the accident. Uncle Li choked with memories, his wife was very nice, the two had never quarreled, "Who knows what's going on, this house just collapsed!"
Uncle Li blamed himself for such an accident on the birthday. In a video released by the media, the gray-haired and thin 80-year-old man kept patting his knees and crying, and knelt down to "approve him", and was soon picked up by the person next to him.
Many parties participated in the rescue, and the scene was cleaned up overnight
After the collapse, local rescues were quickly launched. Rescue worker Li Rui (pseudonym) told the Beijing News that the rescue team was notified by the local emergency management department at around 11 am on August 29. Afterwards, nearly 100 rescuers from surrounding counties and cities carried rescue and first aid tools. Rushed to the scene one after another.
"In addition to firefighters, public security police, village officials and residents are also rescuing buried people. Many people are moving stones with their bare hands. The scene is quite chaotic." Li Rui said that with the arrival of professional rescue forces, a command center was established to coordinate. Rescue work and pull up the cordon. Villagers without experience and equipment are invited to leave the scene.
Li Hengfei, a villager in Anli Village, also participated in the rescue. Li Hengfei said that on the morning of August 29, after hearing the news of the collapse of the Juxian Hotel through the village broadcast, he immediately rode an electric car to the scene, "I and the firefighters smashed the bricks with my hands and pried the cement with a crowbar. Ban, rescued an old grandma".
A large number of collapsed objects piled up at the accident site brought difficulties to rescue work. Li Rui said that there are many supporting cement pillars in the collapsed building. Improper movement of these cement pillars may cause a secondary collapse. He and other rescue team members encountered concrete pillars many times when they tried to dig the rescue channel. “If they hit a pillar, they can only exit and dig again.”
The head of the Tianlong rescue team in Xiangfen County, Lu Shimin, who participated in the rescue at the scene, also said that they saw the scene in ruins at the time, "it was like an earthquake." "We can only use electric picks, cutting machines or digging with bare hands to rescue us after entering." The collapsed object was too heavy to be cleaned and transported manually. "Seeing someone being pressed underneath, calling out in pain, we couldn't save it for a while, and I felt very sad."
On August 30, the official Weibo of "China Fire" announced that when firefighters were rescued under the collapsed rubble of the hotel, they saw a father holding the child firmly, but both were killed. The firefighters reluctantly separated them.
At four or five o'clock in the afternoon on the 29th, the rescue team used a life detector to conduct detection. After confirming that there was no sign of life at the accident site, the on-site personnel used large cranes and other large machinery to lift the cement board. Lu Shimin said that because he was afraid of causing secondary injuries to the trapped people, he did not use large machinery.
At around 3:45 in the morning the next day, the rescue at the scene was all over and the killing started. At 6:40 in the morning, the rescue team withdrew to the scene, and the ruins on the scene had been cleared overnight.
On the afternoon of August 30, an on-site staff member told the Beijing News that the rescued villagers were sent to local health centers and county hospitals by medical personnel according to the severity of their injuries.
A villager said that his wife's aunt, cousin and cousin-in-law were all injured in the accident. Among them, the 60-year-old aunt was hit in the hip by the collapse, and the waist was also injured. The other two "one had a broken rib and the other had a broken leg."
At present, the above three injured have been transferred from Xiangfen County Hospital to Linfen City Hospital for treatment. The villager said that his wife was staying with the bed in the hospital, and his family members hope to take care of the injured and recover as soon as possible. He also said that no one complained about the old man after the incident, “all the people who went there were relatives, and no one could think of natural and man-made disasters.”
At about 9 pm on August 30, a medical staff member of the Department of Orthopedics at Xiangfen County People’s Hospital told the Beijing News that the department received five villagers who were injured by the collapse of the hotel yesterday, but they have all been transferred to the hospital in Linfen City. , "The hospitals in the city have better conditions, and the family members also agreed."
The incident hotel has not been professionally designed and has been built and expanded many times
On the morning of August 30, a reporter from the Beijing News came to the Juxian Hotel in Chenzhuang Village, Xiangfen County, where the incident occurred. The hotel was close to the road and diagonally across from the Taosi Township Police Station. Rescuers at the scene have been evacuated, and the staff working to repair the electric power are still working, and construction waste such as rocks is piled on the open space opposite the hotel.
The surrounding area of the restaurant was blocked by a cordon, and the road in front of the restaurant was also blocked. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the cordon on the road was lifted, and many villagers went to watch. Workers in white coats went to the collapse site to perform disinfection operations. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a number of workers brought in a cart of steel with a height of more than two meters each, which was welded to the ground at the entrance of the hotel one by one, enclosing the south side of the hotel. "To be closed, the restaurant and surrounding buildings are now potentially dangerous, preventing people from entering and exiting there is a safety hazard." A policeman who maintained order at the scene introduced.
According to nearby villagers, the Juxian Hotel was originally a house built by villagers. The main house has been built for decades. Earlier, there was only one storey and it was close to the road. However, the road has been increasing due to road construction in recent years. When it became underground, it added a second floor, and later added a loft, as well as a bedroom and a kitchen. It has been expanded five or six times as it is now."
On the afternoon of the 30th, Mr. Yao, the village director of Chenzhuang Village, also confirmed to a reporter from the Beijing News that the Juxian Hotel was built in the 1980s and expanded several times later. “At that time, there was no design. ".
The Beijing News reporter saw at the scene that the area where the collapse occurred was the hotel banquet hall, which was originally a courtyard behind the hotel’s main house. Later, a roof was built on it to become a banquet hall. A firefighter from Xiangfen County who was drawing on the scene told the Beijing News that the length and width of the banquet hall were 13.6 meters and 12.4 meters.
On August 30th, Lu Shimin told the Beijing News reporter that the ceiling above the banquet hall was built with prefabricated panels and reinforced with a layer of cement. "It is easy to collapse after a long time." The village director Mr. Yao said that the hotel banquet hall that collapsed this time has been at least twelve or three years since it was built.
After the collapse, the main house, bedroom, kitchen and other buildings around the banquet hall were largely intact. "The front and rear buildings (main house, bedroom), and the kitchen are all brick-concrete structures. The upper part of the banquet hall is paved with prefabricated slabs, which is not strong enough," said a villager. At the scene, you can also see the remaining prefabricated panels on the side of the banquet hall.
According to Mr. Yao, it rained in the village before the incident. The village organized forces to investigate the safety of some houses, but because there was no water in the hotel involved, they did not investigate.
Shanxi Province sets up an investigation team, restaurant owners may bear criminal responsibility
According to the official website of the Ministry of Emergency Management, according to the “Measures for the Supervision of Major Accident Investigation and Handling”, on August 29, the Work Safety Committee of the State Council decided to supervise the investigation and handling of this major accident, requiring Shanxi Province to promptly organize the investigation of the accident. The accident investigation report is submitted to the Office of the State Council Security Committee for review and approval and then announced to the public.
According to CCTV News, on August 30, the Shanxi Provincial People's Government established a major accident investigation team for the collapse of a hotel in Xiangfen County on August 29 to investigate the accident.
Villagers nearby told the Beijing News that the owner of the Juxian Hotel was named Qi Jianhua, about 55 years old, and his family had opened a hotel for more than ten years. Starting from a small restaurant, they gradually built a restaurant.
According to information from Tianyan, the Chenzhuang Juxian Restaurant in Taosi Township, Xiangfen County was registered in 2003 and the legal representative is Qi Jianhua. In 2015, the hotel was included in the list of business abnormalities by the market supervision department for failing to submit information in accordance with the "Annual Reporting Measures for Individual Businesses".
According to a villager who is familiar with Qi Jianhua opposite the hotel, the police stationed in the Juxian Hotel after the accident, and Qi Jianhua himself was also under control. “Their family can't live in them now, and they have taken refuge with relatives and friends. His wife did not eat any food yesterday.”
On August 30, a staff member of the Xiangfen County Housing Security and Urban-Rural Development Administration told the media that whether the hotel involved was an illegal construction is currently under investigation.
Lawyer Wang Qingwen from Henan Meixi Law Firm told the Beijing News that if the investigation finds that the building is illegally constructed, the hotel owner, manager, tenant and construction authority shall bear corresponding management responsibilities and proceed in accordance with the crime of major engineering safety accidents. Accountability. In addition, the hotel owner is also required to bear civil liability for compensation for death and related compensation to the family of the deceased.
In addition, there is a view that it may be the accidental collapse of the building caused by long-term rain. Wang Qingwen said that if the final investigation report determines that it is an accident, then there is no criminal liability issue, but the hotel owner still needs to bear civil compensation.
In addition, Wang Qingwen also mentioned that the specific cause of the building collapse still needs to be investigated and identified by professional engineers. Even if the collapsed building is not an illegal construction, if there is a design, construction or material problem, the relevant person in charge can be held accountable for a major safety production accident. According to the Criminal Law, if a construction unit, design unit, construction unit, or project supervision unit violates national regulations, lowers project quality standards, and causes a major safety accident, the person directly responsible shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and fined; If the consequences are particularly serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and fined. "You can refer to the collapse of the Quanzhou Hotel in March this year."
On August 30, at the press briefing on the "8.29" major collapse accident in Xiangfen County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, the person in charge said that from August 29, Shanxi will carry out housing construction and safety of people gathering places throughout the province. Special inspection. The focus is on densely populated places such as farmhouses, hotels, restaurants, hotels, commercial complexes, and large-scale gatherings, celebrations, exhibitions, exhibitions and other dense places. All illegal and illegal buildings shall be shut down. Where there are hidden dangers to building safety and fire safety in places where people gather, the property owner or user shall be instructed to take measures to strengthen or improve, and business cannot be carried out if safety cannot be guaranteed.
Beijing News reporter Liu Ruiming Xiangkai Han Qinke Wu Rongkui Zhang Jianbin Zhang Xiting Zhang Pangang Intern Gao Xinran Zheng Xuejing