Nine arrested in China over building collapse, with casualties still unkown

As many as nine people have been arrested following the collapse of a building in the Chinese city of Changsha where several people are still trapped.

The six-storey building had partially collapsed on Friday with several people inside it. The cause of the collapse is still unknown, and the authorities are still working to look for survivors.

Meanwhile, the police have detained the building's owner along with three other persons responsible for its construction. The Changsha police in a statement said that the five people were also arrested after they "provided a false safety report after conducting a building safety audit of the hotel."

The teams looking for survivors in the rubble have been able to rescue six people so far, according to a report in the BBC. Sixteen people are still feared to be trapped inside it. The authorities claim that 39 others who were present around the building when it collapsed remain unreachable.

Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping has ordered an investigation into the collapse and has called for a search "at all cost." The building was mostly residential, but also featured a cinema hall, a coffeeshop and a hotel.

The photos and videos of the building that have gone viral on social media show the front of the building mostly intact, while the rear section appeared to have caved into itself.

Changsha's mayor in a news briefing pledged to "seize the golden 72 hours for rescue and try our best to search for the trapped people." He further revealed that more than 700 first responders are working to rescue the victims.

This is not the first time that such an incident has happened in China, building collapses are not uncommon in the country. In January this year, a similar incident in Chongquing had claimed 16 lives. An explosion triggered by a suspected gas leak had brought the building down.