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Cover-up in collapse of tunnel?
30/03/2007 08:38 - (SA)
Beijing - A state-run Chinese construction company attempted to cover up the collapse of a subway tunnel being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics that has likely killed six workers, state media said on Friday.
The company building the line waited at least eight hours before notifying authorities of the accident, which occurred early on Wednesday, while it organised its own rescue teams to keep word from leaking out, the Beijing Times reported.
Ten people have been taken into custody over the matter while a labour contractor working for the company, China Railway 12th Bureau Group Co Ltd, has fled, it added.
The accident occurred in Beijing's Haidian university district on the No 10 subway line and hopes of finding the workers alive had faded after more than 200 rescuers failed to reach them by late Thursday, state television reported.
The labourers were working about 11m underground.
As part of the cover-up, the construction company had asked all rescue workers to turn in their cellphones and locked the gate of the site, the Beijing Times said.
Beijing police first learned of the accident after a construction worker who hails from the nearby province of Henan secretly called police in his hometown, who relayed the information to Beijing.
State television has blamed the collapse on "porous soil", but gave no other details.
The line crosses northern Beijing and will link up to the Olympic Village when it is finished in 2008.
Beijing is constructing four subway lines and a light rail line to the airport that are slated to be finished in time for the Olympic Games in August next year.
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