Visitors to a centuries-old tourist site in eastern China were sent scrambling after hundreds of roof tiles came loose and cascaded more than two stories to the ground.
The Fengyang Drum Tower—built in 1375 and used to announce the beginning of ceremonies and the time of day—is one of the largest such towers in China, according to state media.
The tower is a major tourist attraction in Anhui province, which is around 200 miles away from Beijing, China’s capital.
But on Monday the quiet around the site was shattered as hundreds of roof tiles began slipping from the roof and crashing to the ground, raising a huge cloud of gray-brown dust.
“The tile falling lasted for a minute or two,” one eyewitness told Yangcheng Evening News, a state-controlled newspaper.
Another witness described how he heard the crisp sound of one tile falling after another from a shop at the entrance of the Drum Tower.
