Structure collapse was'like exploding fireworks'

Li Yongjun's 21-year-old son, Pan Yuehong, was among the 14 buried at the construction site

I was working near the site when there was a huge noise like exploding fireworks. I didn't realize my son had been buried until I was called by a co-worker.

I could see him through the steel bars, and we used all our strength to lift many bars off him. His face was already cold when we managed to pull him out.

My co-workers and I rushed him to an ambulance, but I was pulled away from the vehicle as I tried to get in.

Now I don't know where he is, which hospital he is being treated at, or even if he is dead or alive. His mother called and said, "How could you not know what has happened to our son?"

He was working for an electronics company in Guangdong and was unwilling to work here because it was too tiring. In October, I finally persuaded him to join me here. I was thinking he could earn much more here, but how stupid I was not to see all the dangers.

I still have no idea whether my son is dead or alive (as of Monday evening), and no officials or company executives have spoken to me about the accident.

(China Daily 12/30/2014 page4)