Arrests made over China building collapse

Chinese police say they have arrested nine people over the collapse of a building in the south-east city of Changsha, where several people remain trapped or missing.

Rescuers pulled a sixth survivor from the rubble on Sunday, state media reported, two days into a search-and-rescue operation that has workers looking for dozens feared missing.

The building in Changsha city, Hunan province, which housed a hotel, apartments and a cinema, caved in on Friday afternoon.

City officials said on Saturday five survivors had been pulled out of the structure, leaving 18 still trapped. A further 39 could not be contacted after the incident.

Changsha police said the building's owner and a team of safety inspectors were detained on Sunday in connection to the accident. They alleged that surveyors had falsified a safety audit of the building. 

No cause for the disaster has yet been given by authorities.

Changsha's mayor earlier vowed to "spare no effort" in their search for the people still trapped, Zheng Jianxin said in a news briefing on Saturday. He added that over 700 first responders had been dispatched to the scene.

State media showed firefighters, backed by a digger, cutting through a mass of metal and sheets of concrete, while rescuers shouted into the tower of debris to communicate with any survivors.

A crowd gathered as chains of rescuers removed pieces of brick by hand, allowing experts a deeper look into the wreckage. 

Some of the injured were rushed away on stretchers, while sniffer dogs combed the area for further signs of life.

President Xi Jinping on Saturday ordered a thorough investigation into the cause of the collapse, state media reported, while a top Communist Party official was dispatched to the scene.