Across China: Couple save 67 neighbors before building topples

A husband and wife from southwest China's Guizhou Province are being hailed as heroes for alerting 67 neighbors moments before a building collapse on Tuesday.

The seven-story building toppled at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday in Huichuan District, Zuiyi City. There were no casualties, with all residents escaping safely thanks to the swift actions of the couple who live in their grocery store on the bottom floor of the complex.

The wife, Luo Kaisu, was first awaken by a noise outside the window of their store late on Monday night, she recalls.

"I thought it was a thief who wanted to break into the store," said Luo. She asked her husband to check it out but he found nothing suspicious.

Early in the morning on Tuesday, she was startled by another loud noise. After inspecting further, she discovered plaster dust flowing from cracks in the apartment's exterior wall.

It was very urgent. The couple raced from door-to-door, waking up nearly all their neighbors before they reached the sixth floor, where their three children live.

The building collapsed 30 minutes after the last person was evacuated.

"It's terrible. We trembled and fell to the ground when the building collapsed in front of us," said Ji Yuankui, Luo's husband.

Their store, with more than 100,000 yuan (about 16,130 U.S. dollars) in inventory, was also buried in the rubble.

According to Liu Jiayu, deputy head of the government of Huichuan District, the collapsed building was built in 1995. The landlord illegally added four floors on the top of original three floors in 2005.

Preliminary investigations showed continuous rain led to the foundation of the building sinking and construction materials were not up to standard, Liu said.

Each household has obtained a relief fund of more than 10,000 yuan and relief supplies from the local government. The landlord is in police custody now. Further investigation is under way.

"Although we are homeless and suffered economic loss, we are lucky enough to be alive thanks to our good neighbors. Life is more valuable than anything else," said Yang Bing, Luo's neighbor.

Tale of the couple's heroics spread quickly online.

"The couple could have been buried when they rushed into the building, but they risked their lives to save others," a web user named "Anxing" commented on Chinese microblog Sina Weibo. "The government should give results of their investigation as soon as possible and punish those accountable for the accident."

Last month, a nine-story building in Guiyang City of Guizhou collapsed and killed 16 people. The city government said a rain-triggered landslide is believed to have caused the incident. Endi