A man checks out a collapsed house in downtown Beijing yesterday. Four houses collapsed after a 10-meter-deep sinkhole occurred last Saturday after a basement in a courtyard house on Deshengmennei Street in Xicheng District was dug out. Three collapses happened after workers attempted to dig out a basement 18 meters deep under the courtyard house, which was unauthorized, the city’s urban planning commission said. The house owner, Li Baojun, is a lawmaker of Xuzhou City in Jiangsu Province in East China. The commission said the basement construction is illegal, as the deputy didn’t go through any procedures for it. Local reports said three workers died during a renovation project in Li’s compound in October 2010.Xinhua