The bodies of a couple from the Chinese mainland killed in a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in Taiwan's Hualien county earlier this month were removed from a collapsed building around 2 pm on Sunday, Taiwan media reported.

Ding Wenchang and his wife He Fenghua were found in the same bed and pinned under a collapsed wall on the third floor of the 12-story Yun Men Tsui Ti building, which had tilted. The first four floors were severely compressed during the earthquake, Central News Agency reported.

It took some time for the rescue workers to retrieve the bodies because special care was taken to remove the debris around them, as well as efforts to prevent the structure from collapsing altogether.

According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the temblor struck offshore near Hualien at 11:50 pm on Feb 6. Seventeen people were killed in the quake, nine of them from the Chinese mainland. A total of 285 people were injured.

Of those killed, 14 died in the Yun Men Tsui Ti building, which triggered demands for a public enquiry. The structure was built more than 20 years ago. Its first three floors contained a restaurant and a hotel. The upper floors were residential apartments.

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