The commercial building, which was being constructed without permission from authorities, collapsed and trapped about 120 people. Forty were injured and, as of Monday, the death toll had risen to 11.

Besides investigating the cause of the accident, the task forces will also handle compensation for victims' families and other logistical matters.

Meanwhile an investigation team from the Ministry of Construction arrived in Houjie Township on Deccember 2 to help shed some light on the case and determine who were responsible for the tragedy.

Members of the ministry team have said they will investigate the accident to the fullest extent and seriously punish those responsible.

Investigators speculated that structural movement due to faulty foundation construction probably caused the three-storey commercial building to collapse.

On December 2, police detained a total of four suspects -- the building's owner, the construction company owner, the building's architect and an engineer -- for questioning.

Rescue work was completed by the end of last Sunday and local government has begun to clear the site. The injured are under treatment in three local hospitals.

To prevent similar cases from taking place, Dongguan municipal government has decided to search out all the buildings in the city which have been constructed without permission from building authorities.

The collapse was the latest in a series of fatal accidents to take place in the southern province in the past several months.

Last month, three people were killed and another two injured during a landslide in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.

On July 15, five people were killed and another three injured in a fire at a government guesthouse in the coastal city of Shantou in eastern Guangdong. And on July 23, 11 people were killed and eight injured in a factory bombing in the city of Puning, also in eastern Guangdong.

(China Daily 12/05/2000)