It’s published
Dozens of elderly people have been killed in a nursing home in Beijing after flooding during a powerful storm earlier this week, local authorities said.
Almost half of at least 70 people killed when extreme weather hit China’s capital were killed in the nearby states lost their lives in senior care centres.
Officials said Thursday that 31 people had died at Tei Shitun Town Aged Care Centre in Beijing’s Miyun district.
Floods surged in the region on Monday, with many caught as unprepared.
Authorities offered a rare public apology when they announced their death Thursday.
“For a long time, this senior centre was in the town centre, safe and not included in the preparation plan. This means there was a hole in the prepared plan,” said Yu Weiguo of Miyun Party, calling the incident a “bitter lesson.”
The care home housed 69 residents, including 55 people with disabilities.
The facility was sitting on lowland ground near a river that was flooded after unusually heavy rain, local media outlet Caixin reported.
There were 77 people in the building, including staff members, when the flood occurred Monday.
The nursing home appeared in footage published by state broadcaster CCTV. The report showed that boat rescuers were pulling people out of windows, but did not mention any of the deaths.
“Through a few hours of coordinated efforts, they rescued 48 people,” the caption of the footage said.
The city later announced that 28 people died in Miyoon district but did not disclose the identity of the victims.
Chinese government censorship believes it is important to strengthen information management and prevent anxiety since leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
In recent years, more and more topics have been subject to censorship, ranging from negative economic news to information about violent attacks.
The floods rose rapidly to the deepest 2 metres, Beijing officials said.
According to Caixin, one Beijing resident said her 87-year-old mother was able to leave the Elder Care Center in Miyun.
“I don’t know where she gained strength, but somehow she managed to climb to the windowsill,” she said.
Authorities said 44 more people were killed in Beijing.
In neighbouring Hebei province, authorities announced eight more deaths on Thursday, with a total of 16 deaths this week.
In northwest, authorities said 10 people were killed after carrying farm workers and washed them out by heavy rain on Wednesday evening.
Four people were still missing as rescue continued, according to a city government statement issued three days after the bus disappeared.
Additional sources •AP