TWO building collapses in Shandong and Shaanxi provinces at the weekends killed 14 people and left another eight injured.

A wall of a factory building in Qingzhou City in east China's Shandong Province collapsed at around 11am yesterday, killing six people and injuring five others.

The accident happened in a workshop of the Changshi Electric Bicycle Manufacturing Company. The workshop was under construction.

Six people died at the scene, while five were being treated in hospital, with two said to be in a serious condition.

An investigation into the accident was under way.

A day earlier, a four-story residential building under construction collapsed in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, killing eight workers and injuring three others, authorities in the provincial capital of Xi'an said yesterday.

The three injured, who included the building's owner, Cao Minchang, were sent to hospital for treatment, said Mi Weixin, deputy secretary general of the Xi'an municipal government.

The construction of the residential building had almost been completed. Neighboring residents have been evacuated for safety concerns, according to Xinhua news agency.

An initialinvestigation showed that unqualified construction materials might have been the cause of the accident, said Huang Hongwu, a street community official with Chang'an District.

The police are looking for two contractors who fled after the accident.

Last year, an almost finished 13-story apartment building in Shanghai collapsed, killing one worker.

Investigations showed that excavated dirt piled next the building may have exerted undue pressure on it.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• construction [kən´strʌkʃən] n.建设；修建；结构 (初中英语单词)
• investigation [in,vesti´geiʃən] n.调查(研究) (初中英语单词)
• treatment [´tri:tmənt] n.待遇；对待；治疗 (初中英语单词)
• neighboring [´neibəriŋ] a.邻近的；接壤的 (初中英语单词)
• agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中英语单词)
• apartment [ə´pɑ:tmənt] n.一套房间 (初中英语单词)
• worker [´wə:kə] n.工人；劳动者；工作者 (初中英语单词)
• pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对...施压力 (初中英语单词)
• bicycle [´baisik(ə)l] n.自行车 (高中英语单词)
• northwest [,nɔ:θ´west] n.&ad.西北(部) (高中英语单词)
• deputy [´depjuti] n.代理人；代表 (高中英语单词)
• municipal [mju:´nisipəl] a.市政的；地方性的 (高中英语单词)
• initial [i´niʃəl] a.最初的 n.首字母 (高中英语单词)
• community [kə´mju:niti] n.团体；社区；公众 (高中英语单词)
• workshop [´wə:kʃɔp] n.车间；工场；创作室 (英语四级单词)
• provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)