President Jiang Zemin Wednesday expressed his concern about the fire that broke out on December 25 in Luoyang of central China’s Henan Province, and urged local governments to spare no efforts to treat the injured and do a good job in dealing with the aftermath of the fire.
Zhu Rongji, Hu Jintao and other top leaders also requested quick measures to investigate the case as soon as possible and punish those responsible.
Officials from the State Economic and Trade Commission rushed to the scene Tuesday and an emergency meeting was held that night.
Altogether 309 people died in the fire. The cause of it is under investigation and suspects have been detained.
Work on identifying the dead has been underway since Tuesday.
To date, the eight local hospitals where the injured are treated have cleaned and fixed up 280 corpses.
Hospital workers have taken photos and established files for those without identity certificates.
Of the seven survivors, one who suffered from smoke inhalation in the fire has recovered and left hospital. The other six are being kept at hospital for treatment.
(People’s Daily 12/28/2000)
