The death toll from the weekend subway collapse in Hangzhou , Zhejiang province , rose to 21 yesterday as the central government accused the railway company and city officials of poor management and oversight.
A leading tunnel expert who visited the site said the 'real killer' had been the company's desperate rush to meet an unreasonably tight deadline set by the city government.
The collapse of the Hangzhou site has led to work at every Beijing subway site being put on hold for safety checks, the Beijing News reported. The governments in Shenzhen and other cities have also stepped up inspections of their subway projects.
By yesterday, rescuers had recovered eight bodies of construction workers, while 13 others were still missing, the Hangzhou government said. Twenty-four people were injured and 13 remain in hospital.
Zi Baocheng , spokesman for the China Railway Group, the project's builder, said the rescue crews had done their best.
'We made maximum effort in the first 76 hours, but the missing no longer have any hope of survival,' he said, shedding tears.
Six insurance companies would pay a total of 50 million yuan (HK$57 million), but only about one-tenth of the money would go to relatives of the victims, the Shanghai-based Eastday internet news portal said. The remainder would go to the railway company.
