Subway tunnel earth slides in Hangzhou

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-28 17:07

HANGZHOU - No casualties occurred after a block of earth slid under a subway construction tunnel on Monday, said the city government of Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province Wednesday.

A government spokesman confirmed that emergency consolidation measures of the subway tunnel have been taken in the planned Fengqi Station of the Hangzhou No. 1 Subway Line. Steel brackets were added to the structure under construction.

After the accident, Zhao Hongzhu, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and Lu Zushan, governor of Zhejiang urged a close monitoring of the stability of the ground and its surrounding buildings.

Authorities have diverted bus routes running through the area until the result of a comprehensive examination of the ground safety is available.

The subway tunnel construction caused tragedy in November when a 75-meter section of the planned Xianghu Station in Hangzhou collapsed, killing 21 people and injured another 24.