At least 9 trapped in Shanghai building collapse

SHANGHAI – A building that was being refurbished collapsed Thursday in downtown Shanghai, and at least nine people are trapped while 11 have been pulled from the rubble.

The building being converted into an auto showroom fell around 11:30 a.m., and the city’s rescue service said 24 emergency vehicles and more than 150 personnel responded to the emergency.

By early afternoon, 11 out of the approximately 20 people buried in the collapse had been pulled from the rubble. Their conditions were not immediately known.

The building is in the Changning district of China’s financial hub.

China has suffered a spate of industrial accidents in recent months largely blamed on skirting of safety requirements amid a slowing economy.

In March, 78 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant in the eastern city of Yancheng that had numerous safety violations, making it one of China’s worst industrial accidents in recent years.

Earlier, in November, at least 22 people were killed in an explosion outside a chemical plant in the northeastern city of Zhangjiakou, which will host competitions in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

A major fire in Shanghai in 2010 destroyed a 28-story apartment building that was under repair, killing at least 58 people. Authorities blamed sparks from a welder’s torch.