The recent typhoon which struck southern parts of China caused widespread damage and killed 20 people, injuring nearly 100 more.
16 of those people were migrant workers who were trapped under the rubble of a half finished factory they were building at the Xitian Industrial zone, in Baoan District, Shenzhen. 70 others were injured, two of them critically. The migrant workers came from Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces.
According to media reports, Shenzhen Communist Party officials who visited the site spoke to local villager who accused the building contractors of using sub standard materials to build the factory houses
One report quoted a villager; "Look at these," one villager said, showing several cement blocks which crumbled into pieces in his hands. "This is sand, not cement," he said.
Villagers also accused local officials of colluding with the construction company to make money. They claimed that the land was originally their farmland and they had voted against an official directive to turn it into a factory site. Despite their opposition, the land was requisitioned and building began. According to the villagers the building was going on a “blinding speed” and they were not surprised to see it collapse.
Inspectors also found that steel bars used at the site had all snapped and the police reported that they were looking for the contractor and sub-contractors, who had fled after the accident.
[Sources: South China Morning Post, domestic media and agencies]