13 jailed over fatal fireworks plant blast

NANNING -- A court in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Friday sentenced 13 people to prison terms after a fireworks plant blast last year left 13 workers dead and another 13 injured.

Those held responsible and consequently convicted were the legal person representative, the manager, shareholders, safety staff and a repairman of the Sanbao Township Fireworks Plant in Cenxi city.

The Cenxi City People's Court doled out prison terms ranging from three years to six-years-and-10-months.

In a previous trial in September, five government workers -- including officials in charge of work safety and safety supervision workers -- received prison terms ranging from three to four years for dereliction of duty.

The explosion, which happened on Nov 1, 2013, was started by repairman Li Peiliang, who was not in possession of a repair license. while he was attempting to repair the machine that inserts the fuses into fireworks.

Li survived the incident.