27. Collapse of Xinjia Express Hotel, China
Built: 2012
Collapsed: 2020
Est. Damages: $5-$15 million*
Located in the Licheng District of Quanzhou City in the Fujian Province, the Xinjia Express Hotel was built in 2012. It collapsed eight years later, unfortunately, while it was being used to quarantine hospital patients. The collapse was due to illegal construction, and there were twenty-nine fatalities and forty-two injuries.
Collapse of Xinjia Express Hotel, China @eetor3 / Pinterest.com
Witnesses to the collapse say they heard a loud “bang” before seeing the tempered glass of the hotel shatter. Within a few seconds, the building crumbled. Investigations into the collapse revealed that there were extra floors added to the building that doubled its weight limit. Many of the columns in the building were also deformed, in complete violation of building code laws, which are designed to prevent tragedies like the Xinjia collapse.