On February 9, 2009, during celebrations for Chinese New Year, a massive fire engulfed a tower of the newly built China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters. The immediate cause was the use of illegal fireworks. But the Beijing Times has revealed a string of human errors that lead to the disaster.

Located near Jingguang Bridge road, a newly-built tower within CCTV complex is ablaze in Beijing on February 9, 2009.

When Xu Wei, head of CCTV's construction department, decided to put on a splendid firework show near the newly built CCTV complex, he had no idea he needed the approval of the Beijing municipal government.

Likewise, he says he did not know that only licensed firework companies were allowed to conduct such shows.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the firework company had just three qualified staff and an out-of-date permit to transport fireworks.

And to avoid the police, the company had sneaked into Beijing in the early hours of the morning before the show to hide the fireworks in the CCTV complex.

When the spectacular fireworks began at 8:00 PM February 9, passers-by stopped to watch and blocked the road. Two traffic policemen rushed to the site and tried to stop the show.