Society

Company offers cash 'to keep death toll secret'

By Jin Zhu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-19 07:40

Bereaved relatives of the victims of a gas pipeline leak in a Hebei province factory earlier this month were offered 250,000 yuan each ($36,000) to keep the death toll under wraps, State media reported yesterday.

Senior executives of Hebei Puyang Iron and Steel Co Ltd in Wu'an admitted to covering up 14 deaths in the Jan 4 tragedy, which claimed 21 lives, local authorities said.

Nine workers were brought to the Wu'an Renci Hospital in a serious condition; six of them died, hospital president Ren Xianyuan told State broadcaster CCTV, adding that only one dead body was then left behind.

A number of dead bodies were rushed off to crematories in Hebei's Cixian and Handan counties, while bodies of some other workers were discovered in the neighboring Shanxi province, CCTV reported.

"After getting news of the leak, I went looking for my son in Renci Hospital but couldn't find him. I found his body in a hospital in Yongnian county, which is 100 km away from his workplace, the next afternoon," Guo Haizhu told the channel.

Family members of the deceased workers said the company's management offered them "250,000 yuan each in compensation" on condition that they keep the death toll a secret.

The leak occurred at about 11.45 am as workers were assembling a furnace. Subsequent investigations confirmed workers did not cut off the gas supply before trying to connect two furnaces with a pipeline.

A number of senior executives of Hebei Puyang Iron and Steel Co Ltd have been detained and some local officials have been dismissed for neglecting their supervisory duties, the channel said.

Allegedly, just a day before the Jan 4 accident, two workers of the same company were poisoned to death at work, but the deaths were not reported.