Story highlights The buildings collapsed early Monday local time

State media reports they were built by villagers

28 people were rescued from the rubble

The story below contains a graphic image

Hong Kong (CNN) At least 22 people were killed in eastern China when residential buildings collapsed early Monday morning local time, state media reported. There were six survivors pulled from the rubble on the outskirts of the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report, adding search and rescue efforts were “basically over.”

The cause of the collapses on Monday was under investigation, although reports said the four buildings were built in the 1970s by their farmer owners and were in a highly degraded state. Poor construction quality has long been a problem in China, particularly in the countryside and smaller cities.
A residential building collapses in the eastern China city of Wenzhou, leaving at least 22 people dead.