Four hundred migrant workers have been discovered living in a windowless basement below luxury apartments in Beijing.
The huge group was found living in a windowless warren of underground rooms by homeowners in an upmarket development in the north east of the city, state media reported.
Residents of Julong Gardens, including wealthy British expatriates, became suspicious after noticing an influx of seemingly new neighbours.
They then discovered the rooms hidden behind a door in the basement of one of the complex’s towers.
The group were found to be migrant workers whose accommodation had been divided into dormitories, including kitchens and a smoking room, according to China National Radio.
They are among an estimated one million people – known as shuzu – who live in bomb shelters and bunkers built under Beijing in the 1970s and 1980s, the BBC reported.
It is unclear whether the accommodation was legal but China National Radio said the space was owned by the government and was likely to have been sublet to the tenants.
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