China:Chinese police have detained 10 people in connection with a cave-in along a subway line being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which killed four construction workers.
The accident happened on Wednesday, but the construction firm failed to report it for almost eight hours and instead tried to rescue the trapped workers on its own, Xinhua news agency reported.
The bodies of three workers, who apparently suffocated after the tunnel collapsed, had been recovered by yesterday. The body of a fourth worker could not immediately be recovered, while two workers remained missing.
The accident and allegations of an attempted cover-up by the building firm have embarrassed the city as it prepares for the highly anticipated games next year.
China Railway 12th Bureau Group is accused of sealing the site immediately after the accident, confiscating employees' mobile phones and ordering people not to talk to police or media.
The company waited eight hours to report the accident on the line, which runs through the main Olympics compound in northwestern Beijing, Xinhua reported.
Police reportedly only found out about the accident after a migrant worker from Henan province, central China, called police in his home town.
The accident has raised public concerns about safety standards for migrant workers. Some well-wishers laid white roses near the scene of the accident, partly as a memorial, but also as a reminder of the poor conditions in which many migrant workers are forced to work.
The subway line is being built as part of efforts to resolve a worsening traffic problem ahead of the Olympics.
The government is planning to build 84km (52 miles) of new subway lines in time for the games, which take place in August 2008.
There have been accidents along the 25km (15.6-mile) route before. In June last year, two people were killed in a collapse, while in January last year a section of highway running past Beijing's central business district caved in, rupturing a sewerage pipe and flooding a subway building site.