4 suspended over blaze at care home
Print Edition
Four officials have been suspended pending an investigation into a fire at a care home in Pingdingshan, central China’s Henan Province, in which 38 senior citizens perished, the city government said yesterday.
They four were identified as Tian Hanlin, deputy head of Lushan County; Liu Dagang, head of the county’s civil affairs bureau; Wang Zhanwen, deputy head of the civil affairs bureau; and Gao Feng, a local police official.
The announcement was made a day after the Supreme People’s Procuratorate began its investigation into alleged dereliction of duty, abuse of power and malpractice among local officials.
Twelve employees of the Kangleyuan Rest Home, including its founder Fan Huazhi, were taken into custody earlier in the week, the city government said, adding that the cause of the blaze, which broke out on Monday evening, is still under investigation.
Several of the victims were so badly burned they were unrecognizable to their families. The results of DNA tests conducted to help identify them were released yesterday.
Meanwhile, Henan TV reported that the families of each victim will receive 500,000 yuan (US$80,600) in compensation.
As well as the 38 people killed, six others were hurt in the blaze. Two of the them, both women, were initially said to be in a critical condition, though according to Henan Daily they are now stable.
One of them is 82-year-old Wang Guilan who has regained consciousness and is talking, the report said.
An initial investigation found poor building quality and lax safety management were to blame for the fire, the safety watchdog said on Wednesday.
The buildings were built of steel sheets stuffed with flammable materials, and the fire exits were poorly designed, said the State Administration of Work Safety.
The care home also failed to conduct proper safety checks and did not have an effective emergency response mechanism, it said.
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