State media says illegally placed construction material on the gymnasium’s roof was behind collapse

Eleven people were killed after the concrete roof of a school gymnasium collapsed in China’s Qiqihar city – many of them believed to be young female volleyball players – with authorities saying the illegal stacking of materials on the roof may have caused the cave in.

The collapse at the No. 34 Middle School in Longsha District in Qiqihar, located in the north-east Heilongjiang province, was reported in the early afternoon on Sunday, but the last remaining person wasn’t pulled out of the rubble until Monday morning.