HEFEI - Three people were confirmed dead and five others are still buried in debris after an under-construction building collapsed in East China's Anhui province on Thursday, local authorities said on Friday.

The sudden collapse of the fourth floor of the "Shengyuan Plaza" caused the whole building to fall at 8:30 pm on Thursday, burying a total of 14 workers, said a source with the Tongcheng city government.

As of 10 am on Friday, nine people had been pulled out of the debris. Three of them died and six were injured and sent to hospitals. Search and rescue work for the remaining five workers is under way.

The cause of the collapse is being investigated.