5 held for removing Harbin residential building's load-bearing wall

Police have arrested five people allegedly responsible for removing a load-bearing wall of a 31-story residential building in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, without appropriate safety measures, local authorities announced on Sunday.

The five were charged with crimes of endangering public security by dangerous means, and are now in police custody. The residential complex's property management company will also be dealt with severely, authorities said in a statement.

Following the incident in late April, the local government of Harbin's Songbei District commissioned state and provincial authorities to carry out inspections of the damaged building's structure, its structure deformation, and assess its structural safety. They also worked out a repair plan.

A door-to-door inspection of the 248 households in the building affected by the incident were conducted by experts.

The inspection showed that the residential building had a total of 50 vertical load-bearing wall components on each floor, with the total cross-sectional area of load-bearing walls covering 42.98 square meters. The removal of the load-bearing wall on the second floor accounts for 1.12 percent of the total. Tests indicated that there were no structural cracks in the 248 units.

A 30-day non-stop monitoring of the building's structural deformation showed that the overall structure of the building is safe and stable. It will meet safety requirements after repairs, according to the Harbin Institute of Technology Engineering Testing Co Ltd.

The Harbin Commission for Discipline Inspection, meanwhile, has carried out separate investigations of the incident.