China restaurant collapses during birthday party, killing 29

BEIJING (AP) — Rescue efforts ended at a two-story restaurant in a northern Chinese village that collapsed during a local resident's 80th birthday celebration, leaving 29 people dead.

The Ministry of Emergency Management says another 28 people were injured, seven of them seriously, when the building suddenly crumbled on Saturday.

There's no word on what caused the collapse or on the fate of the birthday guest and other celebrants. Hundreds of rescue workers using sniffer dogs, cranes and high-tech sensors had searched the rubble, lifting slabs of concrete in hopes of freeing survivors.

The region lies in the heart of China's coal country, where thousands of miners have died in explosions, collapses and floods over the years.

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