2023 Qiqihar school gym collapse
2023 Qiqihar school gymnasium collapse is located in Heilongjiang
2023 Qiqihar school gymnasium collapse
Location of the collapse
Date23 July 2023 (2023-07-23)
Time14:56 (CST, UTC+8)
Location175 Yong'an Avenue, Longsha District, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang
Coordinates47°20′9.66″N 123°56′13.04″E / 47.3360167°N 123.9369556°E / 47.3360167; 123.9369556
CauseOverloading
Deaths11
Non-fatal injuries4
Escaped4
Flowers of condolence were laid at the gate of Qiqihar No 34 Middle School.
Drinks and canned yellow peaches were laid at the school gate, with flowers of condolence visible afar.

The roof of the school gymnasium of the No 34 Middle School of Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China collapsed on 23 July 2023 at 14:56 local time, killing 11 people with another four injured.[1][2]

Background

The No 34 Middle School of Qiqihar is a public secondary school located in the city’s Longsha District and offers lower secondary education (Level 2).[3] Qiqihar is a prefecture-level city with a population of about 5 million, the second-largest in the northernmost and easternmost province of China, Heilongjiang.[4] The school’s gym that collapsed in this incident is reported to be built in 1997[5][6] with an area of 1,200 square metres.[7]

The collapse

The collapse happened on 23 July 2023 at 14:56 local time, according to the provincial fire and rescue department, reported by the Xinhua News Agency.[1] The collapse resulted in the whole roof of the gym and the building materials made of perlite that were wrongly placed on it falling to the ground entirely. 19 people were inside the gym when the accident occurred; four managed to escape, with the rest 15 trapped; most were school children.[1][6] The children are believed to be primarily students of a girls’ volleyball team of the very school or from nearby schools.[8] Reports claim they were training at the time of the collapse, and the team practising that day had reportedly just won second place in the provincial championship.[9][1][5] Among the 15 trapped, two were coaches, and the rest 13 were children.[10][11][12]

Rescue

39 fire trucks and 159 rescuers were sent to the scene.[4] Eight were discovered by 17:30 local time,[4] with six more by dawn[13] and the last by around 10:00 the next day.[14] Among the trapped, five were found dead upon discovery; six died despite receiving medical treatment, with the rest four rescued injured.[15] One trapped coach was among the rescued,[16] one is confirmed to be dead.[8][9]

Causes of the accident and investigation

Upon preliminary investigation, the direct cause of the accident was commonly believed to be the wrongly placed building materials on the roof. There was a construction project nearby, of which the workers stacked perlite on the top of the gym for the sake of convenience. A 30 mm precipitation was reported that day, which might have led to the perlite absorbing a large amount of water and resulting in the roof’s overloading and collapse.[1][6][17][5][13] The Beijing News carried an editorial to condemn the accident, criticising the lack of supervision on the construction site.[1] Wuhan’s official newspaper, the Changjiang Daily, on the other hand, urged the local authorities in Qiqihar to investigate whether the collapsed building was a ‘tofu-dreg project’ in the first place.[6][12]

It is reported that the local police have detained those involved in the adjacent construction project for further investigation.[9][16][13] Managers of the involved construction firm are said to face criminal charges.[18]

Controversies

Sources of social media in mainland China claimed that a large number of police officers[10][19] were deployed to gather the parents of the victims and kept them under watch while sharing little to no information with them.[9] A video circulated on the internet has shown a devastated father claiming they were not updated with information for the first five to six hours, and they were not allowed to identify their children’s bodies. The claim was echoed by other parents in the video, as well as users of social platforms, criticising the lack of proper communication from the police officers, the local officials, the school, and the hospital.[1][17][16][5][13] Online users also censured the official announcement for its over-highlighting how much effort has been made by the authorities while de-emphasising casualties.[17]

Reactions

Flowers, canned yellow peaches[lower-roman 1], candles, and drinks were laid at the front gate of the school starting the next day to convey people’s condolences; some were brought by the locals, while some were laid by couriers on behalf of remote mourners.[9][8][11][21]

Officials of Qiqihar apologised to the public over the accident.[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ It is a local custom representing wellwishes.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Orr, Bernard (24 July 2023). Perry, Michael and Baum, Bernadette (eds.). "China school gymnasium's roof collapses, killing 11". Reuters. Beijing. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  2. ↑ "11 killed as roof collapses at middle school gym in China's far northeast, officials say". Associated Press. Beijing. 24 July 2023. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  3. ↑ Song, Jiaxing (23 March 2021). Wang, Yan (ed.). "第三十四中学南苑校区破土动工" [Groundbreaking of Nanyuan Campus of the No 34 Middle School Begins]. 齐齐哈尔日报 [Qiqihar Daily] (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via Website of the Qiqihar Government.
  4. 1 2 3 Cai, Vanessa (23 July 2023). "School stadium roof collapses in China, trapping at least 10". South China Morning Post. Shanghai. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Eleven dead after school gymnasium roof collapses on girls' volleyball team". The Daily Telegraph. 24 July 2023. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Dang, Yuanyue (24 July 2023). "China school collapse: city authorities under fire for failing to tell parents what was going on". South China Morning Post. Beijing. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  7. ↑ Qin, Jianhang; Zhang, Fangzhou; Zhou, Qianqian; et al. (24 July 2023). "Update: School Gym Roof Collapse Leaves 11 Dead in Northeast China". Caixin. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 Bai, Dezhang (24 July 2023). Zhao, Xiaoxin (ed.). "齐齐哈尔坍塌事故遇难者家属：女儿是在三十四中训练的外校学生，有女教练一同遇难" [Family of a Qiqihar collapse victim: (our) daughter was trained in the team but from another school; a female coach was among the deceased]. 新黄河 [Xin Huanghe] (in Chinese (China)). Shandong. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023 – via Sohu News.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Bradsher, Keith and Zhao, Siyi (24 July 2023). "At Least 11 Killed After School Gym Roof Collapses During a Volleyball Practice in China". The New York Times. Beijing. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  10. 1 2 "齐齐哈尔一中学体育馆坍塌致 11 死 4 伤 初步调查：施工商违规置放建筑材料" [A secondary school’s gym collapsed in Qiqihar, killing 11 and injuring 4; preliminary investigation: builders illegally placed construction materials on top]. Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese (China)). 24 July 2023. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  11. 1 2 McCarthy, Simone (24 July 2023). "Eleven dead in China after school gymnasium roof collapses onto student volleyball team". CNN. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 Dang, Yuanyue (25 July 2023). "China school gym collapse: Qiqihar officials apologise for fatal foof failure". South China Morning Post. Beijing. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Yang, William (24 July 2023). "China roof collapse: 11 killed in school gym". The Times. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  14. ↑ Liang, Dong and Zhang, Yue (24 July 2023). Wang, Xue (ed.). "齐齐哈尔第 34 中学体育馆坍塌事故最后一名被困人员已搜救到 共造成 11 人死亡" [The last one trapped in the collapsed gymnasium of the No 34 Middle School in Qiqihar has been discovered, adding the casualties to 11 in total]. Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese (China)). Harbin. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  15. ↑ "Gallery: Rescue Turns to Recovery". Caixin. 24 July 2023. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  16. 1 2 3 Ng, Kelly (24 July 2023). "China: 11 die as roof collapses on girl's volleyball team". BBC News. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  17. 1 2 3 Xie, Yihui and Liu, Lucille (24 July 2023). "School Gym Roof Collapse Kills 11 in China, Sparking Outrage". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  18. ↑ "Victims in deadly collapse of China middle school gym roof largely members of girl's volleyball team". Associated Press. Beijing. 25 July 2023. Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  19. ↑ "中国齐齐哈尔一中学体育馆坍塌 11 名死者包括女排队员" [A secondary school’s gym collapsed in Qiqihar, China, killing 11, including girl’s volleyball players]. BBC News 中文 [BBC News (Chinese)] (in Chinese (China)). 24 July 2023. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  20. ↑ Mi, Guanghong (21 December 2022). Wang, Yiting (ed.). "黄桃罐头：一代北方人的记忆" [Canned yellow peaches—memories of a generation of northerners]. Ta Kung Pao (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  21. ↑ "Gallery: Mourning in Qiqihar". Caixin. 25 July 2023. Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
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