Chinese shoe factory collapses, killing a dozen people

WENLING, China, July 5 (UPI) -- At least a dozen people died Saturday afternoon when a shoe factory collapsed in the Chinese city of Wenling, according to reports.

Another 33 people were injured in the collapse, four critically, according to Xinhua news agency.

More than 300 rescue workers responded to the scene. Police are investigating what caused the four-story structure to fall.

A worker at the factory told Xinhua that a water leak in a large fishing pool built on the roof had been reported prior to the incident.

Police say 56 people, including 51 factory employees, were inside the building when it collapsed, with only nine escaping injury.

A fire killed 16 people in a shoe factory in the same Zhejiang province city last year, though it is unclear whether that was the same factory from Saturday's incident, the BBC reports.

The incident comes little over a month after 42 people were charged with murder in the 2013 Dhaka, Bangladesh, garment factory collapse that killed more than 1,000 people.

In May, 72 people died in a shoe factory fire in the Philippines, and in January, 13 people were killed when a plastic factory caught fire in Bangladesh.