Construction Failures

When developers altered their plans for a residential apartment to a department store with an extra fifth floor , some support columns were omitted to make way for elevators . After three years of construction , the store opened in 1990 . Five years later , the fifth-floor ceiling began to show cracks which grew worse , forcing closure of the fifth floor . In June 1995 , the building ’ s south wing collapsed , killing 502 people and injuring some 1,500 .

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