• Second gym collapse in Heilongjiang province claims 3 lives, stirs alarm.
• The incident occurred during unseasonable cold weather and snowfall.
• Dramatic rescue efforts were witnessed in the snow-covered rubble.

After a second gymnasium collapsed in Heilongjiang province, claiming the lives of three middle school students, Chinese citizens have taken to social media to express their alarm.

The collapse, which occurred on Monday night amid unseasonably cold weather and snowfall, led to dramatic rescue efforts in the snow-covered rubble.

A widely shared video shows a desperate mother shouting, “My son! My son is in there,” as she rushes towards the collapsed building.

On Tuesday, authorities confirmed the tragic loss of three lives and one person seriously injured in the Yuecheng Gym Stadium in Jiamusi city.

They also revealed that a gym official had been detained, but the cause of the second-floor collapse remains unclear.

This incident immediately sparked comparisons with a previous gymnasium collapse in the province, which took 11 lives in July.

In that case, heavy rain had caused the concrete roof of a school gymnasium in Qiqihar city to collapse. Officials attributed it to construction materials left by contractors and conducted safety checks on nearby buildings.

Now, concerned citizens are demanding answers, with the Jiamusi disaster becoming a top-trending topic on Weibo, garnering over 1.3 billion views.

“The collapse of the stadium in Qiqihar was not a long time ago, and there were checks everywhere after that – what did the checks do? This is an apparent man-made disaster,” wrote one user in a comment that drew more than 9,000 likes.

“Heilongjiang again, stadium again. Crappy quality, murderer project,” another user wrote.

In the immediate aftermath, there has been no official statement regarding whether the Yuecheng Gym Stadium underwent inspections following the July incident. Nevertheless, a review of the county authorities’ WeChat account by the BBC revealed a post indicating that safety checks had been conducted on the stadium in July.

Online, local residents are urging authorities to take additional measures, such as conducting further inspections of large public facilities throughout the province.

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Heilongjiang, situated as China’s northernmost province, finds itself in the northeastern region of the country grappling with an abrupt and severe cold snap in recent days.

The area’s residents are contending with blizzard conditions, which have necessitated the closure of schools and the cancellation of numerous flights and train services. In response to the extreme weather, authorities have issued severe weather warnings, advising locals to remain indoors.

State media has reported that Heilongjiang can anticipate further blizzard conditions, with cautionary messages regarding the presence of icy roads and the risk of power lines being brought down.

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