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21 charged for part in CCTV building fire

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-23 22:14

BEIJING - Twenty-one people in connection to a deadly fire that burned a section of the newly built China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters last year have been charged with causing an accident with dangerous goods, a procuratorate official confirmed to Xinhua Tuesday.

The No. 2 branch of Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate referred the defendants to the Beijing Municipal No. 2 People's Intermediate Court on Sunday, said the official who asked not to be named.

Among the charged was Xu Wei, former head of CCTV's construction bureau. The official did not disclose the identities of 20 others or the date of the court hearing.

An illegal fireworks display caused the blaze on February 9, 2009 in the 30-story building in Beijing's central business district, which left one firemen dead and eight others injured, including six firemen and two construction workers. It caused direct economic losses of more than 160 million yuan (23.44 million U.S.dollars), the official said.

Earlier this month, a statement from the State Council found 71 people responsible for the fire. Forty-four of them would face criminal charges while 27 others would suffer party and administrative disciplinary action, the statement said.