17 killed in China building collapse

At least 17 people have been killed and 24 others injured after a residential building under renovation collapsed in central China's Henan province, official media said today.

The two-story house which was built in the 1990s suddenly collapsed in Beiwudu town, Wuyang county yesterday when construction workers were attempting to lift its foundation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Rescuers pulled out 40 workers from the debris. Seventeen people were crushed to death and 23 others injured including nine of them severely, said a county's publicity official.

Rescuers were searching for two persons who were unaccounted for even as the building was reduced into rubble. The cause of the accident is unknown.