Man rescued after 69 hours in rubble of fallen China hotel

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers search for victims at the site of a hotel collapse in Quanzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province, Sunday, March 8, 2020. Several people were killed and others trapped in the collapse of the Chinese hotel that was being used to isolate people who had arrived from other parts of China hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, authorities said Sunday. (Lin Shanchuan/Xinhua via AP)

BEIJING — A man was pulled out alive after being trapped for 69 hours under the rubble of a collapsed virus quarantine hotel in southeastern China in which at least 27 other people died and two remain missing.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the man was sent to hospital immediately after being rescued late on Tuesday afternoon.

A 10-year-old boy and his mother had been rescued around midnight Monday after being trapped for 52 hours. The condition of all three survivors remains unknown.

The updated death toll from the national rescue service was current as of about 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The hotel in the city of Quanzhou had been a quarantine site for people exposed to the new coronavirus, which has infected more than 80,000 people in China though about three-fourths of them have recovered. The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.

Most parts of China are quarantining people for 14 days if they are from high-risk areas or even traveled abroad or simply outside their home regions.

Rescuers at the scene of the collapse had protective gear and disinfectant to minimize exposure to the virus.

The building had reportedly been modified illegally before the collapse.