Results tagged “deaths”

Who knew officials had so much in common with college kids in the West? While China's students may not suffer much from the effects of firewater (mostly because they don't partake in the stuff), Chinese officials are going into comas and dropping dead because of too much boozing. Most recently, a deputy directory of water resources in Hubei died after a banquet dinner. Hospital records indicated that the official's heavy drinking had triggered a heart attack. In the same week, another official - this one a district chief in Guangdong, fell into a coma thanks to excessive amounts of alcohol. But the weirdest little tidbit comes from an over-drinking story from last year, when a family planning official died in Hunan and was later recognized as an "Excellent Party Member" who had died with "honor." Last we checked, puking up a storm and drunkenly stumbling face first onto the floor wasn't all that honorable, but perhaps we're going about alcohol poisoning the wrong way. Source: China Daily

We don't know if this is what happens every summer in this city, but it seems like this month there have been a lot of really depressing stories about children drowning. First, there was the woman who allegedly threw a two-month-old infant into the river. She has been detained and is rumored to be suffering from post-partum depression. Then a little boy fell into the river near the Yangjia Bridge last week. He has yet to be found. And now Shanghai Daily tells us that a toddler has drowned in a freak septic tank accident in Baoshan District. Someone left the top of a septic tank open and a 5-year-old girl fell in and wasn't discovered til two days later. Good god. So keep an eye on your kids, parents, especially if they happen to be playing anywhere near water.

Around 6:40 this morning, the scaffolding of the elevated on Huaxiang Lu near Beiqing Lu in the Minhang District collapsed in the construction area. More than 10 construction workers had been standing on the scaffolding before it suddenly crashed down. Immediately after the collapse, 120 emergency technicians rushed to the scene and brought the injured people to Qu Jing Hospital. According to Xinmin, one construction worker had died and another six have suffered injuries.

The Ministry of Public Security has started a three-month campaign against prisoner abuse, after numerous suspicious deaths of suspects and prisoners within police custody in recent months - including the death of 19-year-old Xu Gengrong, who had been in detention for eight days on suspicion of murdering his former girlfriend.

AFP reports:

One person was killed Sunday in a blast near a police post in China's financial hub Shanghai, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Continue reading "One killed in police post blast on Wuning Nan Lu"

Randy Cohen, New York Times "The Ethicist" columnist, might be inclined to think so. Granted, Cohen's anti-auto podcast from last week is about Manhattan, but several of his arguments already seem applicable to Shanghai (and, in 2020, when our city's subway system looks like this, there will be few ethical excuses for owning personal cars in most of Shanghai). Cohen lays out five reasons why cars and Manhattanites shouldn't mix. Here's No. 1: "Cars kill. If you introduced a transportation system by announcing, 'It'll only kill 40,000 people a year,' it's hard to believe it would gain widespread popularity." (The number of "traffic deaths" in China was down to 73,484 in 2008, but up 100 percent over the last 20 years.) Listen to all New York Times podcasts here or subscribe via iTunes. They're all free.

WARNING: This video contains graphic images that may not be suitable for everyone.

Shanghai-based Canadian documentary photographer Ryan Pyle informs us:

It appears that Li Guoxing, the first recipient of a face transplant surgery in China as been confirmed dead. Li Guoxing received a face transplant surgery in 2006 from surgeon Guo Shuzhong in Xi'an, China. If you can remember Mr. Li, 30 years old when he had the surgery, had is face ripped off by a bear while hunting in rural Yunnan province where he lived in a small village community. Mr. Li's death, it has been said, was due to an infection because he wasn't taking prescribed immune-system drugs properly. Another report says he was favoring herbal medicines instead. No final report on the death will be available because Mr. Li has been buried for several months now, and no autopsy was completed.

Continue reading "China's first face transplant recipient dead"

Photo from fateless_gypsy

Peijin Chen reports that the death toll in the Hangzhou subway tunnel collapse we told you about earlier has gone up, and that the problems that led to the tragedy were discovered a month ago.

Sad news from the Shanghai Daily:

FOUR college students died after falling off the balcony of their six-story dormitory at Shanghai Business School while trying to escape a fire early this morning in Xuhui District, police said.

Continue reading "Four students at Shanghai Business School jump to death to escape from burning dorm room"

Warning: Video contains some disturbing images.

The newly launched Marks and Spencers on Nanjing Xi Lu is off to a rather inauspicious start — barely a few days after Shanghai shoppers went on a rampage at the store, an Indian national has fallen to his death Sunday evening. Xinhua has more:

The accident occurred at around 9:30 p.m. when Shah Harshit, 24,fell from an escalator on the fourth floor of the store in Nanjing West Road, a Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau official said.

Continue reading "Indian national falls to his death at Marks and Spencers Shanghai"

A fireworks technician died yesterday in an explosion in Century Park, Pudong — and he wasn't even lighting any fireworks. 26 year old Pu Jiliang from Henan province died on the spot at around 12.30pm when he was loading onto a truck near the gate of the park. Fireworks displays by Russian, Japanese, German and Chinese artists had been scheduled at Century Park for Sept. 30, Oct. 3 and Oct.6 as part of the National Day celebrations. No other casualties have been reported and the police have not furnished more details surrounding Pu's mysterious death.

We were out and about in the rain all of yesterday and had no idea a "mega thunderstorm" was brewing out there in another part of town and people were getting killed in it. According to Xinhua, this was a "once-in-a-century thunderstorm":

A migrant worker was crushed to death and 14 were injured after a thunderstorm hit part of Shanghai on Saturday afternoon, municipal flood authorities said.

Continue reading "Shanghai thunderstorm kills one, injures 14 in Pudong and Nanhui districts"

WARNING: The video on the right contains footage of someone dying and as such may be disturbing to viewers.

Early this morning in southern Xinjiang's Kuqa County police killed five men who had allegedly thrown homemade bombs at a police station in a drive-by attack. Two police cars were destroyed and two policemen were apparently wounded (initial reports said they had been killed). Less than a week ago, 16 policemen were reportedly killed in another attack in Xinjiang. [Source]

36 coal miners are still trapped after a mine flooded at about 3.30pm yesterday at the Nadu Mine in the Guangxi region. Rescuers have since saved 13 people after 10 hours and 12 of the 36 still trapped are in contact with rescuers and are in safe places within the mine. These miners are reported to be about 2km from the mouth of the mine and rescuers are struggling to get water and food to them as they continue rescue efforts.

ESWN draws our attention the heart-rending story of Chen Jian. Be very sure you watch all the way to the fourth video, or don't watch at all if you don't intend to cry today:

UPDATE, 18:09 The first Japanese relief workers are expected to leave tonight. A group of 60 earthquake specialists together with sniffer dogs will head to Sichuan over the next few days. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has appealed for earth-moving equipment to aid rescue efforts in the region. Many relief workers are currently sifting through the rubble with their hands according to ABC News. The latest official death toll stands at 19,500 but is expected to rise sharply over the coming days.

Though reports are varied, it now appears that the current death from the Wenchuan earthquakes is somewhere between 17,000 and 20,000 (latter figure from the Time China Blog, although most of the media is still reporting the official count at a more conservative 15,000. It's still to0 early to say just how high that figure will climb once everything is said and done, but an earlier Time's estimate put that number at around 100,000 (their man Austin Ramzy is there right now). While we hope that this isn't the case, we can see why they would say that, because other sources put the amount of buried or missing at between 27,000 and a staggering 60,000, and time is running out to get these people out.

Treehugger: China earthquake threatens nearby dams, environment

Film star Jackie Chan has donated RMB10million to help those in need following the earthquake in Sichuan province. Other celebrities have also dipped into their wallets. From CriEnglish:

"Jackie Chan also sent his consolation to the quake victims and encouraged them to hold on as "people all over the country are with you," the star said.

Continue reading "Celebrity Power: Jackie Chan and Li Yuchun"

As reported earlier, the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake was not only near the city of Wenchuan, but it was also very close to the Wolong Panda Reserve. Xinhua informed us that some pandas at other facilities were safe, but the status of the Wolong pandas was still known.

* Over 10,000 feared dead in biggest earthquake in China for 30 years

By Sue Anne Tay

By Kenneth Tan, Dan Washburn, Pete Chorba, and Derek Sandhaus