Bleachers collapse injures 45 among CCTV audiences
- Source: Global Times
- [03:55 December 15 2009]
- Comments
By Yang Jie
A temporary set of bleachers collapsed during the recording of a TV program for CCTV 6 at a studio in Fangshan district Sunday. Eight of the 45 injured people are still receiving medical treatment.
The program, Jiapianyouyue, which means "a date with good movies," specializes in introducing and broadcasting quality overseas films. The program's production company, Milky Way Space Company, signed with Xingzhijia Company who was responsible for finding the studio.
The shoot was set to start at around 9:30 am. The audience was mostly senior residents from nearby apartment compounds and college students recruited from the neighborhood. Over 40 people walked into the studio at the Beijing Vocational College of Agriculture.
The temporary bleachers were made up of three ascending rows of steel structures, the highest at 1.2 meters, and the structures themselves were only a few centimeters thick, bound by iron wire.
A 55-year-old woman surnamed Song sat on the second row. "Like in an earthquake, my body sank. My mind went blank. Then I saw other people falling, followed by moaning," she said, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.
"I wouldn't have stepped onto it if I had known the steel was so thin, but it was too dark," said Zhang, a victim who suffered from a fractured vertebra.
The injured were all taken to the Beiya Orthopedics Hospital for examination and treatment. Those with minor injuries went home after receiving simple treatment, but eight others who suffered breaks and fractures stayed for further medical care.
Ren Guixiang, the deputy director of the Beiya Orthopedics Hospital, said that as many of the injured are elderly, some chronic ailments may be caused by the bone injuries.
Ren said that the medical bills will be covered by the hospital for now and that they would conduct psychological therapy for the elderly.
However, an unidentified staff from Xingzhijia said that their company paid the medical bills. "Compensation should be the responsibility of the producers of the temporary stand, but our company is now covering the medical bills. Anyway, we will strengthen the quality of the facilities in the studio in the future," she told the Global Times Monday.
She also stated that it is the first time that this kind of incident has happened in the studio. The Beijing News reported that some producers from the program went to visit the injured in the hospital Sunday.
A staff from the Fangshan Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau told the Global Times Monday that several departments including the quality supervision authorities are conducting a joint investigation into the incident.
