China's Deadly Scaffolding Collapse, What Went Wrong?

A sudden collapse of a scaffolding system for the construction of a cooling tower surprised locals Thursday in Eastern China. The deadly mountain of debris fell on more than 75 workers, killing 74 and injuring two men. Up to now, one man is still reported missing. 

According to reports, this is China's worst case of construction-related accidents in the past two years as one deadly sweep killed more than 90 percent of workers on site. Authorities have been investigating on what possibly went wrong. There was a total of 500 rescue workers that were sent on site to help dig out debris, with their bare hands.  

The structure being constructed was a 165-meter cooling tower made out of concrete. This was the center of the 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant being built since 2015. The scaffolding which was holding the structure in place during construction broke down causing mayhem on the site. Though no actual results yet are released from investigations, experts believe that the collapse has been caused by the use of lower grade materials and the lack of proper safety inspections.

What baffled authorities was the eerie coincidence that the accident happened on the same day a former head of the State Administration of Work Safety is being tried in Beijing court for allegedly accepting bribery in 2002.

A lot of experts said that even though this is the biggest work-safety related accident in the past two years, China had suffered major accidents which are attributed to very poor conditions on site and corruption. Some of the reported accidents were reportedly due to the very flexible safety standards set by the safety administration.  

Local officials in the province where the accident happened have expressed deep condolences to the bereaved families through a televised news conference. Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued a statement that all related agencies should carry out stricter and more thorough inspections of worksites to prevent possible major accidents in the future.