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Yang Erjing, Beijing Sidewalk Collapse Victim, Dies After Falling Into Scalding Pool Of Water

Posted: 04/10/2012 6:04 pm Updated: 04/10/2012 6:09 pm

Beijing Sidewalk Collapse

A young woman died late Monday night about a week after falling through a Beijing sidewalk into a pool of scalding water, chinaSMACK reports.

Yang Erjing was walking to work in Beijing when the a one-square-meter part of the sidewalk crumbled beneath her feet, sending her plummeting into a pit of hot water, China's Global Times reports.

The blog CRIENGLISH.com notes that the 27-year-old was submerged in boiling water for about a minute before being pulled out. According to Shanghaiist, Yang's colleague was present at the time of the incident. She described Yang's skin and flesh as "almost separated."

An official from the Beijing District Heating Group, which was carrying out repairs nearby, told China Daily that corroded pipes contributed to the accident. Shanghaiist writes that the water pipe leakage had been reported prior to the accident, but no action had been taken.

CRIENGLISH notes that the building developer had paid about $50,700 to cover Yang's hospital expenses. However, chinaSMACK reported that the woman died from organ failure after 99% of her body was burned.

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A young woman died late Monday night about a week after falling through a Beijing sidewalk into a pool of scalding water, chinaSMACK reports. Yang Erjing was walking to work in Beijing when the a o...
A young woman died late Monday night about a week after falling through a Beijing sidewalk into a pool of scalding water, chinaSMACK reports. Yang Erjing was walking to work in Beijing when the a o...
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12:53 AM on 04/25/2012
Oh! How horrible!

I once plunged my arm into a deep sink full of scalding water. When I quickly pulled my arm out, I tightly squeezed it, to stifle my screams of pain. When I let go, I found that the skin of my arm had squeezed up between my fingers. Fortunately, I completely healed, but the thought of plunging into a pit of boiling water is horrible!
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loki
cheap politicians for sale
02:44 AM on 04/13/2012
It could very easily happen here.
http://fox2now.com/2012/04/05/steam-pipe-bursts-in-downtown-st-louis/

luckily , this happened downtown but early enough it wasn't busy. Blew a huge section of street away, and said to have spewed asbestos all over and into the air. But of course the company that owns all the steam pipes under downtown denies that. The pipe that burst was reported to have been put in back in the 50s. The owner said something like, well sometimes the joints just rust and break.
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loki
cheap politicians for sale
03:06 AM on 04/13/2012
wow, 21 minutes to make it through the Huffstopa censoring process. Technology is advancing at tortes speed here at HP
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rich3324
Likes: Chasing villagers. Dislikes: Fire
01:49 PM on 04/12/2012
Guess the US isn’t the only place with crumbling infrastructure.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
builderman55
Featherless Biped
11:12 AM on 04/12/2012
I took some serious hits for comparing this terrible event to a Republican dominatedworld--but am unapologetic. I should have commented about the horror this woman must have felt, which, I most definitely did feel-the accident was horrific. And it was an extreme example of the Social Darwinist country I believe the GOP wants to return us to. But when the current GOP (once a noble and principled party under Lincoln and T. Roosevelt) devotes itself to "coddling millionaires and billionaires" (Warren Buffett's words), when it is devoted unstintingly to exactly the SAME policies that got us here (deregulation and targeted tax cuts for the wealthiest) it deserves the opprobrium. We are in one of the darkest political climates I've seen in my lifetime (57 years). The Middle and allowed classes are being blamed for their current predicament--a situation caused by those who have exclusively benefited from 30 years of carefully crafted reactionary policy. When unarmed black teenagers bearing Skittles are murdered for wearing hoodies and the Noise Machine of the Right justifies the murder. We live in ugly times...
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DoctorBri1776
Mission: Unleashing human potential
11:47 AM on 04/12/2012
This is one of the more elegant and powerful statements I have ever read in a HuffPost comment. You help restore my faith in the USA just a bit and from someone 12 years my junior. We are not living in the country we grew up in. The fact is that Americans, in poll after poll, are much to the progressive end of the political spectrum including quite a bit more progressive than Obama. Since 2010, I have been living in China with mostly positive experiences. I have seen abundant examples, both large and small, of Chinese people and even government officials demonstrating genuine concern for others as well as occasional examples of gross indifference to human life and well being. Mostly, I find Chinese people hungry for self-awareness, opportunities for self-expression, greater creature comforts but also a desire for a way to live their lives that balance material well being with spiritual (not religious) well being. This is an exciting place to be, with all the dislocations and contradictions and brutal occurances. The energy here is palpable and in such sharp contrast with what my mother country is becoming.
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wforvendetta
Entitled to my own opinion, not my own facts
02:01 PM on 04/11/2012
About as terrible a way to die as there is.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jgamble28
ya never know.
02:01 PM on 04/11/2012
What a horrible thing to have happened. It's liked she was cooked. I wonder why that hole wasn't covered. How sad for her family.
01:51 PM on 04/11/2012
Everyone, including me, knows it was a horrendous and extremely painful way to die. Everyone is moved to express their sympathy. As it should be.

But did you know that in China, cats are considered food? And that in preparation for cooking they are held by the tail and quickly plunged head first into huge pots of boiling water to scald them and then imediately skinned while still alive? Even if one accepts that food animals differ from country to country...it still is unfathomely cruel to do this to them. And no one says anything.
slowhanddean
I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken !
02:54 PM on 04/11/2012
And the whole world does the same thing to lobster. Plus one would have to believe what you said. Have you been to China? Did you actually see this happen?
04:04 PM on 04/11/2012
don't be an idiot. it happens. google it.
06:04 PM on 04/11/2012
Watch a documentary once in awhile instead of cartoons.
02:56 PM on 04/11/2012
Wow, are you really using this tragedy as a platform for your PETA agenda.?!?! Get your priorities straight. Who are you to judge a culture for their culinary traditions anyway?
Shame on you.
06:09 PM on 04/11/2012
WHAT part of "Even if one accepts that food animals differ from country to country...it still is unfathomely cruel to do this to them." did you NOT understand? To use the "lobster" defense is lame. Just because people are cruel to lobsters makes it Ok to be cruel to cats? What color is the sky in your word? Two wrongs NEVER make a right.
p.s. Shame on YOU for judging me, AND peta. At least they are trying to make the world better by exposing the human cruelty to animals.
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norby413
I'm just here for the sideboob...
07:48 PM on 04/12/2012
I'll judge their culture all I want, as everyone else judges ours.
I've seen video of them doing it, and I'll never get the mental image out of my mind. Cats and dogs are companion animals, and NO animal deserves to be boiled alive even if your culture deems then acceptable as food.
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Adonijah
My micro-bio is trying to secure a Swiss Bank Acct
01:49 PM on 04/11/2012
Oh my! Absolutely HORRIBLE/PAINFUL! I am saddened by this. First the 6 yr ole dying in the wood-chipper.....now this. I have met my quota on reading sad stories for awhile!!!

: ((
03:08 PM on 04/11/2012
Agree.... :(
01:38 PM on 04/11/2012
How awful! To be burned alive, then the worst part was having to live for another week! Thank goodness I have a living will, no herioc measures or tubes for me.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Barry Clarke
Retired Air Traffic Control Aviation Meteorologist
01:22 PM on 04/11/2012
What a terrible and most likely painful way to die and then be kept alive for a week with burns over 99% of her body? There is no way that this person was going to live. We wouldn’t treat our pets in such a inhumane way! But, if’s over and may she RIP………….
01:00 PM on 04/11/2012
This is what the US would be without worker safety laws. Yet we continue to import from this communist country. Why? Why do we let the country we import from not have any environmental or worker safety concerns. I don't care if they work for a nickle an hour, but if they aren't abiding by the same environmental and worker safety laws as we have to here in this country then it isn't FAIR TRADE, it's SLAVERY by default.
01:57 PM on 04/11/2012
This woman was not at work.
Don't think worker saftey laws would have helped
11:11 AM on 04/12/2012
The worker safety extends to more than the workers at a particular facility. If a facility is safe, then their area is safe. When plants blow up, it's sometimes the people in the area who are affected more. People in the general public have no clue how many times their skin has been saved because of worker safety laws.
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deluk
disgusted.
11:13 AM on 04/12/2012
In a true "communist country" there would have been no healthcare bills, even in most first world capitalist countries there wouldn't be.
11:52 AM on 04/12/2012
What connection are you trying to make?
12:31 PM on 04/11/2012
What an absolutely horrible way to die. I can't even imagine the pain and suffering she went through for that entire week. This should never have happened had just one worker had the sense to close the sidewalk after they were informed of the danger.
01:22 PM on 04/11/2012
I am sure she was in a drug induced coma. No hospital would allow a human to not be in such a coma.
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Adonijah
My micro-bio is trying to secure a Swiss Bank Acct
02:00 PM on 04/11/2012
Agree
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Mustangallee
What you write here will be in cyberspace forever!
03:40 PM on 04/11/2012
You hope...so do I!
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john yunker
God gave you that mouth...Use it
12:30 PM on 04/11/2012
Chine doesn't care,,Most chinese let their female children dieor kill them in favor of a son. This young womans family should be compensated for their loss and some kind if penalty should be incurred by the responsible party.. Man, and we thinkl we have it bad here.. At least here we have codes and laws that protect the innocent victims of neglect.If we allow some one like Romney as president those may disappear and we will live in a place like China..WANT THAT
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
stopgov
We have IRRECONCILABLE differences
01:18 PM on 04/11/2012
You know your comments were fine and fairly true through the points on China. But what does Mr. Romney have to do with this, give me a break! Heck by your standards, you should blame Mr. Obama for supporting the Muslims, and what they do to women. That must mean that Mr. Obama wants to take away their voting rights, licenses, and wear head coverings. That's not fair, and blaming Mr. Romney isn't either.
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CSR-921
A House Divided Will Fall
01:27 PM on 04/11/2012
Like sheep to the slaughter house! You sir, have no shame to use this story to promote your political and may I say distorted views. Now..... If you had said "if we allow someone like Obama to be re-elected not only we will lose the freedom to purchase or not health insurance, and who knows what's next" then I would have been happy.
01:57 PM on 04/11/2012
Now who is using this to promote your political view?
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dmoongo
Tempus Edax Rerum
12:27 PM on 04/11/2012
Why was there boiling water under the sidewalk?
indigoblue322
Guinea pigs are the answer to world peace.
01:07 PM on 04/11/2012
Right? Wondered that myself.
01:23 PM on 04/11/2012
the article clearly stated why. re read it.
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dmoongo
Tempus Edax Rerum
01:56 PM on 04/11/2012
It doesn't say. I can only assume, from the sentence below, that they heat water before it is pumped into homes and businesses. No individual water heaters like we have here. But I prefer not to assume.

An official from the Beijing District Heating Group, which was carrying out repairs nearby, told China Daily that corroded pipes contributed to the accident.