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WORLD NEWS Monday 6 January 2020

Death toll surges as Cambodian

building collapse search ends

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia children were among the cause the construction
(AP) — The death toll from dead. work failed to adhere to
the collapse of a building Women are often em- safety standards.
under construction in Cam- ployed as construction He said that plywood that
bodia has surged to 36, workers in Cambodia and is normally put underneath
even as an additional sur- neighboring Thailand, and the concrete separating
vivor was pulled from the families of workers also of- each floor is supposed to
rubble, officials said Sun- ten live at the construction remain in place for about
day. sites. one month to allow prop-
At least a dozen bodies At a news conference at er setting, but instead was
were found in overnight the site, Hun Sen said the removed after roughly 10
operations at the site in the couple who owned the days. He also indicated
coastal province of Kep, building and hired the con- that the rebar — the steel
where the building toppled struction crew had been rods assembled in a mesh
on Friday. detained and sent to court to reinforce the concrete
Prime Minister Hun Sen an- to face charges. He did — were not of a strong
nounced the end of the not specify the charges. A enough gauge.
rescue operation, confirm- committee was being set A senior provincial police
ing that 23 injured survivors up to determine the cause officer had said Friday that
were found. of the collapse. the accident occurred af- Photo provided by the Kep Province Authority Police, emergen-
cy workers carry a survivor from the debris after a building col-
A statement from Kep pro- Hun Sen said that accord- ter concrete had been lapsed in Kep province, Cambodia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2020.
vincial authorities said that ing to preliminary findings, poured on the top level of Associated Press
at least 13 women and six the building collapsed be- the building.q
Local authorities: Mysterious illness in China is not SARS

By YANAN WANG were diagnosed with the and lung infections ap-
BEIJING (AP) — The mys- condition and have been pearing in a "small number"
terious respiratory illness isolated while they receive of cases. There were no
that has infected dozens treatment, according clear indications of human-
of people in a central Chi- to the Wuhan Municipal to-human transmission.
nese city is not SARS, local Health Commission. Seven Several patients were work-
authorities said Sunday. were in critical condition, ing at the South China Sea-
The 2002-2003 SARS epi- while the rest were stable. food City food market in
demic started in south- The commission said in a sprawling Wuhan's suburbs.
ern China and killed more statement that initial inves- The commission said the
than 700 people in main- tigations have ruled out market would be suspend-
land China, Hong Kong SARS — severe acute respi- ed and investigated.
and elsewhere. Fears of ratory syndrome — as well Hong Kong's Hospital Au-
a SARS recurrence arose as Middle East respiratory thority said Sunday that a
this month after a slate of syndrome, influenza, bird total of 15 patients in Hong
patients were hospitalized flu and adenovirus. Kong were being treated
with an unexplained viral The commission previously for symptoms including fe- Health surveillance officer use temperature scanner to moni-
pneumonia in Wuhan, the said the condition's most ver and respiratory infec- tor passengers arriving at the Hong Kong International airport in
capital of Hubei province. common symptom was fe- tion after recent visits to Hong Kong, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020. Associated Press
As of Sunday, 59 people ver, with shortness of breath Wuhan.q