Search for survivors ends with six pulled from the rubble on the outskirts of Wenzhou city after homes described as old and decrepit fell down

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The death toll has risen to at least 22 in the collapse of a group of homes in eastern China, according to state media.

There were six survivors pulled from the rubble on the outskirts of the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, the Xinhua news agency said in a brief report, adding search and rescue efforts were “basically over”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rescue workers search at the site where residential buildings collapsed in Wenzhou. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters

Pictures from the scene following the collapse showed workers in orange suits sifting through a mountain of rubble.

“To protect those who are trapped, we are mainly digging with our bare hands so that work is going slowly,” fire department officer Sun Jing told Xinhua, adding that the debris was piled three storeys high.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rescuers carry an injured person on the rubble of collapsed buildings. Photograph: VCG/VCG via Getty Images

The cause of the collapses on Monday was under investigation. Reports said the four buildings were built in the 1970s by their farmer owners and were in a highly degraded state. Extra floors had been added over the years, making them between three and five storeys high and further weakening their structures.

Five adjacent houses built in the 1970s remained standing, though rescuers were demolishing them to avoid secondary disasters, Xinhua said.

Poor construction quality has long been a problem in China, particularly in the countryside and smaller cities.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rescuers search for survivors. Photograph: VCG/VCG via Getty Images

In May, 16 people were reported dead after a residential building in Guizhou province in the south-west collapsed due to landslides.

Two people were killed and 24 injured in April when a storm brought down a wholesale market building in Foshan city in the southern province of Guangdong.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report

