Heilongjiang
\nChinese media reported Monday that at least 11 people, mostly young students, lost their lives after the roof of a gymnasium came down crashing on a girl\u2019s volleyball team in the industrial province of Heilongjiang.
\nThe media reports suggest that only eight out of 19 people survived who were inside the gym. The owners of the place were detained by the police at a local construction company.
\nThe roof collapse was reported at 2:56pm Sunday, according to the provincial fire and rescue department.
\nThey have been allegedly dumping a form of volcanic glass called pertile on the roof of the gym while working on an adjacent building project, the Chinese media said.
\nAccording to China National Radio, the coaches of the middle school\u2019s girls\u2019 volleyball team were heard calling out the students\u2019 names as rescue teams were removing the debris.
\nParents criticised the school officials, saying \u201cthere had been a lack of proper communication on the rescue effort, which stretched until Monday morning.\u201d
\nUnder the influence of rainfall, the perlite soaked up water and gained weight, resulting in the roof collapse, according to Xinhua.
\n\u201cThey tell me my daughter is gone but we never got to see the child. All the children had their faces covered with mud and blood when they were sent to the hospital. I pleaded, please let me identify the child. What if, that wasn\u2019t my child?\u201d one man said in a video that was widely shared on social media.
\n\u201cWhat have [the authorities] been doing four, five, or even six hours after the children were sent to the hospital? … Doctors are not communicating with us about how the rescue is going.
\n\u201cWe have elderly people at home, we need to [help them] be mentally prepared. There are doctors, police officers, and other government officials here. But we have not heard anything from you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Heilongjiang Chinese media reported Monday that at least 11 people, mostly young students, lost their lives after the roof of a gymnasium came down crashing on a girl\u2019s volleyball team in the industrial province of Heilongjiang. The media reports suggest that only eight out of 19 people survived who were inside the gym. The owners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-345186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n