Jail terms for Shanghai collapse

Underground digging eroded the foundations of the apartment building.

Two men have been jailed in China for corruption linked to the collapse of a building that left one worker dead.

Que Jingde and Zhang Zhiqin of Shanghai Meidu Real Estate both received life terms for the June 2009 collapse.

According to China Daily, Zhang had allowed an unqualified contractor to build an underground car park.

This, combined with a large pile of excavated earth on the other side of the building, caused it to topple to one side, the paper said.

The building, a large apartment complex in Shanghai's "Lotus Riverside" development, fell over almost intact.

It was empty at the time of the collapse, but a worker who had returned to the site to collect his tools was killed.

Zhang was convicted of corruption, embezzlement and causing an accident, and Que on one count of corruption.