Photo: Sina Weibo

Five people have been hospitalized including one with severe injuries after the collapse of a large rain shelter at the 72 Tujia Stilted Buildings, a cultural landmark in Zhangjiajie in Central China's Hunan Province, due to snowstorms and freezing rain on Saturday night. Another 17 people still remain under medical observation. 

According to the official WeChat account of Yongding district in Zhangjiajie, a retractable canopy of a tea house at the 72 Tujia Stilted Buildings in Yongding district collapsed when it was folded and closed due to snowstorms and freezing rain, causing injuries to some people. 

After the accident, rescue work was immediately organized and the injured people were promptly sent to hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, investigation into the accident was initiated and inspection and rectification on all the similar venues in the district was launched, according to the WeChat post. 

At present, five people have been hospitalized including one with severe injuries. The others are suffering from minor injuries. There are another 17 injured people who are still under medical observation. All the work related to cleaning aftermath and investigation are ongoing. 

According to an employee from the local emergency management bureau of Zhangjiajie, an electric retractable steel-structured canopy put up at the roofless space of the 72 Tujia Stilted Buildings collapsed, The Paper reported on Sunday. 

After the incident, all the people on the scene escaped by themselves, and a number of tourists suffered minor scratches. 

As a new cultural landmark in Zhangjiajie, the 72 Tujia Stilted Buildings with its area of 110,000 square meters and its height of 109.9 meters, applied to Guinness in 2019 to be listed as the world's tallest Tujia stilted building, according to Shangyou News. 

The tourist attraction is divided into three parts including buildings, market and scenery, covering leisure business forms such as bars, workshops and museums, to promote the upgrading of Zhangjiajie's cultural tourism industry and the development of tourism nighttime economy, according to the introduction on the website of Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. 

The scenic spot was listed in the third batch of the national-level night culture and tourism consumption gathering areas released by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism on January 25, 2024. Zhangjiajie City Spring Festival Gala was also held at the cultural landmark on the evening of February 2, 2024, Shangyou News reported. 

Global Times