Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200811/20081118/article_381062.htm
Parents want answers in fire deaths
Created: 2008-11-18 1:49:17
Author:Staff Reporters
AT Shanghai Business School yesterday, painters were covering up the smoke stains in a dormitory where four female students jumped or fell to their deaths in a fire.
The emotional scars will be much more difficult to heal.
Family members of one of the young women who died smashed potted plants in anger yesterday when they felt they weren't getting prompt answers about what happened in Friday's fire.
Students were traumatized at the loss of their four young friends.
And officials were still trying to explain exactly what went so badly wrong.
One of the main concerns raised by parents centered on whether the fire extinguishers in the dorm building were properly recharged and inspected.
Some of the victims' parents told reporters that when they checked the extinguishers, they found they were all produced in 1999 and the last maintenance was in 2006.
They showed pictures as proof and said the school replaced all the out-of-date extinguishers with new ones.
School officials, however, said records at the Xuhui Fire Bureau prove that the liquid inside the extinguishers wouldn't be out of date until January.
Meanwhile, yesterday morning, the school organized a tribute to the dead women, asking students to stand in mourning for one minute before class. The school also dispatched special psychological counselors to comfort students who suffered emotional trauma from witnessing the tragedy.
Flowers were laid on the concrete where the four young women landed when they plummeted from the balcony of their sixth-floor room as smoke and flames poured out.
Some students decided to move out for a few days to escape the smell of paint, and to deal with their emotions.
Two students escaped the blaze, but they haven't been seen on campus since they appeared in a TV interview on Sunday and talked about the fire.
Shen Hongyan and Zhang Yi said the bottom bunk in the dorm room they shared with the four others caught fire at about 6am.
They thought they could put out the fire quickly since it was not big. However, when they had returned from the washroom with water, they found the door would not open.
Shen and Zhang heard cries for help coming from the room and in a few minutes they saw smoke pouring from the 20-square-meter room as quilts, mosquito nets and clothes went up in flames.
They said an electric heating stick used to boil water in a thermos may have caused the fire.
Fire officials believe when Shen and Zhang opened the door, it allowed more oxygen into the room, which made the fire burn faster.
The relatives want to meet the two roommates who escaped the fire to find out exactly what happened.
They said that they have questions about the sequence of events and want to know why the two didn't urge the others to join them when they left.
The school arranged for the victims' parents, who arrived at the accident scene on Friday, to stay in a nearby hotel as the investigation continues.
But 20 relatives of victim Zhang Yanping from Shanghai's Chongming Island burst into anger after waiting for answers since Friday.
They cried and smashed potted plants in a classroom yesterday afternoon in frustration over the lack of information about the death of the 20-year-old student. The other victims were identified as Wang Jiayan, 20, of Minhang District Chen Rui, 19, of Sichuan Province and Liu Wenwen, 21, Jiangsu Province.
The emotional scars will be much more difficult to heal.
Family members of one of the young women who died smashed potted plants in anger yesterday when they felt they weren't getting prompt answers about what happened in Friday's fire.
Students were traumatized at the loss of their four young friends.
And officials were still trying to explain exactly what went so badly wrong.
One of the main concerns raised by parents centered on whether the fire extinguishers in the dorm building were properly recharged and inspected.
Some of the victims' parents told reporters that when they checked the extinguishers, they found they were all produced in 1999 and the last maintenance was in 2006.
They showed pictures as proof and said the school replaced all the out-of-date extinguishers with new ones.
School officials, however, said records at the Xuhui Fire Bureau prove that the liquid inside the extinguishers wouldn't be out of date until January.
Meanwhile, yesterday morning, the school organized a tribute to the dead women, asking students to stand in mourning for one minute before class. The school also dispatched special psychological counselors to comfort students who suffered emotional trauma from witnessing the tragedy.
Flowers were laid on the concrete where the four young women landed when they plummeted from the balcony of their sixth-floor room as smoke and flames poured out.
Some students decided to move out for a few days to escape the smell of paint, and to deal with their emotions.
Two students escaped the blaze, but they haven't been seen on campus since they appeared in a TV interview on Sunday and talked about the fire.
Shen Hongyan and Zhang Yi said the bottom bunk in the dorm room they shared with the four others caught fire at about 6am.
They thought they could put out the fire quickly since it was not big. However, when they had returned from the washroom with water, they found the door would not open.
Shen and Zhang heard cries for help coming from the room and in a few minutes they saw smoke pouring from the 20-square-meter room as quilts, mosquito nets and clothes went up in flames.
They said an electric heating stick used to boil water in a thermos may have caused the fire.
Fire officials believe when Shen and Zhang opened the door, it allowed more oxygen into the room, which made the fire burn faster.
The relatives want to meet the two roommates who escaped the fire to find out exactly what happened.
They said that they have questions about the sequence of events and want to know why the two didn't urge the others to join them when they left.
The school arranged for the victims' parents, who arrived at the accident scene on Friday, to stay in a nearby hotel as the investigation continues.
But 20 relatives of victim Zhang Yanping from Shanghai's Chongming Island burst into anger after waiting for answers since Friday.
They cried and smashed potted plants in a classroom yesterday afternoon in frustration over the lack of information about the death of the 20-year-old student. The other victims were identified as Wang Jiayan, 20, of Minhang District Chen Rui, 19, of Sichuan Province and Liu Wenwen, 21, Jiangsu Province.
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