Surveillance video shows that around 19:20, the entire roof suddenly collapsed. The plaster wall that was added on the second floor was knocked down by a huge air wave, and the camera also fell down.
Haifeng Weiye, one of the construction units of the sports center project, is a major bidder for the Huannan County government, participating in a wide variety of projects. Another construction unit, Huayou Construction, is also a major bidder for local government projects.
The Yuecheng Plaza comprehensive project is a provincial key project in Heilongjiang, and it appeared in the Huannan County government work report in 2017.
Two months before the incident, a member of the Standing Committee of the Huannan County Party Committee led a team to inspect the safety production work of the cultural and entertainment market, and Yuecheng Sunshine Fitness was one of the inspection sites.
▲Inside the sports center. (Yuecheng Sports Douyin account/picture)
Surveillance video shows that around 19:20, the entire roof suddenly collapsed. The plaster wall that was added on the second floor was knocked down by a huge air wave, and the camera also fell down.
Haifeng Weiye, one of the construction units of the sports center project, is a major bidder for the Huannan County government, participating in a wide variety of projects. Another construction unit, Huayou Construction, is also a major bidder for local government projects.
The Yuecheng Plaza comprehensive project is a provincial key project in Heilongjiang, and it appeared in the Huannan County government work report in 2017.
Two months before the incident, a member of the Standing Committee of the Huannan County Party Committee led a team to inspect the safety production work of the cultural and entertainment market, and Yuecheng Sunshine Fitness was one of the inspection sites.
Text | Southern Weekend reporter Luo Huanhuan
Responsible editor | Zhang Yue
Less than four months after the collapse of the roof of the 34th Middle School gymnasium in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, the tragedy happened again. The gymnasium in Huannan Yuecheng, Jiamusi, which is six hundred kilometers away, also suffered a roof collapse.
According to the Huannan County government’s announcement, around 19:20 on November 6, 2023, a partial collapse occurred at the Yuecheng Gymnasium in Huannan County, Jiamusi City. According to preliminary confirmation at the scene, three people were trapped inside the gymnasium.
Heavy rain had occurred for several consecutive days when the Qiqihar incident happened. In this accident, Huannan County had a snowfall of more than 15 millimeters within 6 consecutive hours, and the local area issued a red snowstorm warning.
The announcement shows that the Yuecheng Gymnasium, where the incident occurred, has a 2-story frame structure with a construction area of about 2,000 square meters. The collapsed area was the basketball area on the second floor, with a collapsed area of about 500 square meters.
There are three venues in this gymnasium. The collapsed one is the basketball hall, and there is also a table tennis hall on the first floor and a children’s physical training hall on the second floor.
Li Zhicheng is the owner of this children’s physical training hall. He told the Southern Weekend reporter that it was a rest day in the hall that day, used for cleaning and sanitation. No one was in the physical training hall when the incident happened. The basketball court and table tennis hall on the first floor should be open as usual, and they usually close at nine o’clock in the evening, but “there should be no one on Monday”.
After receiving the news, Li Zhicheng cooperated with the police to get the surveillance video of the entire second floor at the time of the incident. The police also hoped to confirm whether anyone was trapped through his camera. Surveillance video shows that around 19:20, the entire roof suddenly collapsed. He had added a plaster wall on the second floor, and the entire wall was knocked down by a huge air wave, and the camera also fell down.
Li Zhicheng borrowed 200,000 yuan from a friend to open this venue. “Our family is still a poor household in the county. We originally thought that we could recover the cost in the first two years, and we could make a profit in the third and fourth years, but now we have nothing. Fortunately, it was my shop’s cleaning day that day. If there were casualties in my shop, I would never get over it. Parents are also very warm-hearted and are asking me if I am okay.”
1
Inspected two months before the incident
The Information Office of the Huannan County Government in Heilongjiang Province issued a notice at dawn: At 0:35 on November 7, the rescue at the scene of the partial collapse of the Yuecheng Fitness Gymnasium in Huannan County was completed. There were 7 people at the scene when the accident occurred, of whom 3 escaped on their own, 1 was slightly injured, and 3 died.
The venue where the accident occurred belongs to the Huannan County Xinguang Fitness Club, and the person in charge of the club has been controlled by the police. The cause of the accident is under further investigation.
The Southern Weekend reporter found that the legal representative of the Xinguang Fitness Club is Men Yanan. Around 22:52 on November 6, the Southern Weekend reporter called Men Yanan many times, but the other party was always busy.
Men Yanan opened the Yuecheng Sports Fitness Club on April 8, 2021, but then cancelled it, and then re-registered the Xinguang Construction Club at the original address on July 20, 2022.
According to reports from the local media “Damei Huannan”, two months before the incident, on the afternoon of September 5, 2023, Dong Lijuan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Huannan County Party Committee, led a team to inspect the safety production work of the cultural and entertainment market, and Yuecheng Sunshine Fitness and Yuecheng Good Voice KTV were among the inspection sites.
On September 5, venues including Yuecheng Sunshine Fitness underwent safety production inspections. (Damei Huannan/picture)
Local media reported, “Wherever Dong Lijuan went, she carefully checked the safety risks of each place, checked whether the fire-fighting facilities and equipment met the regulations, whether the fire-fighting equipment was within the validity period, whether the fire exits were unobstructed, whether the emergency lights could operate normally, and whether the certificates were complete. For the safety hazards found, the rectification measures and time limits were clearly defined on the spot. For those that could not be clearly rectified on the spot, a list of problems was drawn up, and the relevant departments and responsible persons were instructed to propose rectification opinions and plans, and rectify them within a time limit.” Dong Lijuan said that it is necessary to firmly grasp the awareness of safety production risk prevention and control, “focus on prominent problems and major hidden dangers and never let go. Continuously establish the awareness of the safety red line and the rule of law, promote the implementation of safety production responsibilities, and ensure the continuous stability of the safety production situation and the steady and orderly advancement of the people’s cultural undertakings.”
Local media reported that on July 24, Cheng Xianfeng, deputy secretary of the Huannan County Party Committee and county magistrate, also went to the Yuecheng Plaza National Fitness Gymnasium to inspect the implementation of safety work.
2
Both construction units are major bidders
The Southern Weekend reporter found that the gymnasium belongs to a part of the Yuecheng Plaza comprehensive complex, and the developer of the project is Heilongjiang Yuecheng Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yuecheng Real Estate).
Yuecheng Plaza. (Huannan County Government Network/picture)
Public bidding information shows that the project has two phases. The construction unit that won the bid for the first phase is Heilongjiang Haifeng Weiye Construction Installation Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Haifeng Weiye), with a start date of June 30, 2018, and a completion date of October 1, 2019.
The construction unit that won the bid for the second phase is Heilongjiang Huayou Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Huayou Construction), with a start date of June 10, 2018, and a completion date of October 1, 2020.
The Southern Weekend reporter contacted Yue Chengqi, the legal representative of Haifeng Weiye. The other party said that he already knew about the gymnasium collapse, but he was not sure whether it was the project he built. “I need to go back and check the information.”
Bidding information shows that Haifeng Weiye is a major bidder for the Huannan County government, and the projects it participates in are also varied. In terms of municipal engineering, it has undertaken public parking lots, roads, high-speed rail parking lots, etc. In terms of medical engineering, it has the county disease control center, the infectious disease area of the county hospital, the 120 emergency center, as well as the infrastructure construction of the beautiful countryside in Huannan County, the material reserve warehouse of the county power supply bureau, and the black soil transfer earthwork in the pig slaughterhouse area of the Huannan Economic Development Zone. In addition, it has also won the bid for the county’s affordable housing project.
Mou Yandong, a shareholder of Huayou Construction, the construction unit that won the bid for the second phase of Yuecheng, is the second largest shareholder of Yuecheng Real Estate. Similar to Haifeng Weiye, Huayou Construction is also a major bidder for government projects. In addition to Yuecheng Plaza, it has obtained at least three government projects, namely, the renovation of the Chinese medicine hospital medical housing project of Jiamusi City Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, the cultural facility construction project of the Huachuan County Culture, Radio, Television and News Publishing Bureau, and the Huannan County Dangerous House Renovation Project of the Huannan County Town Construction Management Center.
The address of the collapsed gymnasium also registered a company called Heilongjiang Yuecheng Sports Culture Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yuecheng Sports). The legal representative of this company, Sun Yongjun, is the supervisor of Yuecheng Real Estate.
It is quite strange that Yuecheng Real Estate and Yuecheng Sports successively cancelled their registration in 2021 and 2022.
Yuecheng Real Estate was once a star company in the local area. According to reports from local media in Huannan, “With the strong investment promotion of the county housing and construction department, Beijing Deyin Tong Technology Co., Ltd. invested 380 million yuan to build an urban complex project in the original Olympic Xincun Phase III shantytown in the county, and invested in the registration of Heilongjiang Yuecheng Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. The project started construction in May 2016 and was completed in October 2019.”
The report stated, “The project manager of Yuecheng Plaza said that with the strong support of the Huannan County Party Committee, County Government and relevant departments, the completed engineering volume of our project now includes two resettlement buildings with an area of 34,000 square meters, a commercial area of 28,000 square meters for the urban complex, and an area of 16,000 square meters for high-end residential communities. In 2017, our company planned to invest 170 million yuan, which has now been fully in place, and the preliminary preparations for construction have also been arranged. Now the commercial and residential area is in the stage of interior and exterior decoration, and it is expected to be completed and put into use in August.”
The Southern Weekend reporter found that the Yuecheng Plaza comprehensive project is a provincial key project in Heilongjiang, and it appeared in the Huannan County government work report in 2017.
So far, the Huannan County government website still retains the reports of the grand occasion that year. On January 22, 2018, Yuecheng Plaza in Huannan County opened, and the deputy county magistrate of the county government delivered an opening speech and announced the opening.
Yuecheng Plaza is introduced as “a comprehensive urban commercial complex integrating multiple functions such as leisure, entertainment, shopping, and experience. The project’s own advantages in terms of business format, function, taste, characteristics, scale, service, and brand make the project as a whole in a highly competitive leading position, and it will definitely become a well-known urban comprehensive project in the county, improve the city’s taste, and add luster to the comprehensive construction of a vibrant, civilized, ecological, honest, intelligent, harmonious, and happy beautiful Huannan.”
Multiple neighbors confirmed to the Southern Weekend reporter that the Yuecheng Gymnasium where the incident occurred has been sealed off, but the KTV in the Yuecheng Plaza shopping mall was still open as usual that night.
On the public comment website, netizens commented that Yuecheng Plaza is the most entertaining place in this county. “I’ve been to this small county several times, and I don’t remember other places, but this shopping mall is really good. The gym uses international big-brand equipment, just like the gym in Harbin that costs more than 10,000 yuan a year.”
(At the request of the interviewee, Li Zhicheng is a pseudonym.)
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