BEIJING (AP) - Eight people in an eastern Chinese city were killed when the construction elevator they were in plummeted from an apartment building, the local government said Sunday.

The Longkou city government in Shandong province said on its official microblog page that the elevator fell from the 18th story of the building under construction.

Eight people who were in the elevator when it fell Friday were immediately taken to hospitals but none survived, the government said.

Despite improvements in recent years, work safety remains a problem in China, where regulations are routinely ignored and cost-cutting by management often lead to accidents.