Government and hospital officials responsible for a fatal
hospital fire last year in northeast China's Jilin Province have been punished, according
to a report jointly released by the provincial discipline
inspection department and work safety administration on
Saturday.
Fourteen people who were directly responsible for the fire in
Liaoyuan Central Hospital were handed over to local judicial organs
to ascertain criminal responsibilities.
The fourteen include Wang Shaowen, head of the hospital and also
former deputy head of the city's health bureau, Li Mingming, deputy
head of the hospital, Zhao Yonggang, chief of the hospital's
general services section, and Zhang Diankun, head of the hospital's
electrician squad, the report said.
Seven officials from the hospital, the city fire brigade and
health bureaus were also dismissed, demoted or given serious
warnings.
The blaze, which killed 37 people and injured 95 others on
December 15, 2005, was caused by a short circuit in the hospital's
power distribution chamber, and spread rapidly as inflammable
material caught fire.
A joint investigation by the State Council and Jilin Provincial
government found that the hospital had been on fire for 30 minutes
before firefighters arrived.
Investigators said the delay in contacting emergency services
was the major cause for the worst hospital blaze in the country in
more than 50 years.
According to the investigation team, Li Mingming initially
thought the fire could be contained, and put off reporting it for
fear that the arrival of firefighters would create a panic. By the
time the alarm was sounded, the situation was out of control.
It took more than 200 firefighters six hours to extinguish the
blaze. Apart from the people killed and injured, the fire caused
direct economic losses of 8.21 million yuan (about US$1
million).
The hospital reopened on January 26 with many new
facilities.
(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2006)