The accident happened at around 9.40 am Saturday when relatives and fellow villagers were attending a birthday party banquet for an 80-year-old person at Juxian Restaurant in Chenzhuang Village in Xiangfen County, according to the rescue team.

The rescue work was completed in the early hours of Sunday. A total of 57 people were pulled out of the debris of the collapsed two-story building.

Twenty-nine of them were confirmed dead, seven were severely injured and 21 others suffered minor injuries, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.