Rescue work finished in hotel debris
Supervision team formed to oversee investigation into incident that killed 17
The hotel was undergoing structural renovations when it collapsed. Formerly called Shanhu Hotel, it was first put into use in 1991.
The renovations-which had not been approved by the city government-led to the collapse, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a preliminary investigation by the rescue team at the site.
Jiangsu has formed a team to investigate the incident. Police have summoned and detained some of the owners and operators of the hotel, as well as engineers and people in charge of the renovations.
Lou Qinjian, Party secretary of Jiangsu, visited injured people at the hospital and arranged rescue work. Lou said the accident must be thoroughly investigated and no effort should be spared to save the lives of the injured.
Lou also visited firefighters, police and medical workers who took turns to work 24 hours a day to recover the buried and treat the injured.
Xu Kunlin, Party secretary of Suzhou, told a construction safety management meeting on Tuesday that lessons must be learned to prevent such accidents from happening again.
