Officials' alleged banquet on night of stampede investigated

A bouquet of flowers is pictured at the site of a memorial ceremony for people who were killed in a stampede incident during a New Year's celebration on the Bund, with Shanghai's Pudong financial district in the backgound, Jan 6, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

SHANGHAI - Shanghai authorities are investigating allegations of an opulent banquet held for district officials on New Year's Eve, the municipal disciplinary watchdog said Wednesday.

The investigation was sparked by reports by media outlets that at the same time as a fatal stampede, which left 36 dead and 49 others injured, Huangpu District officials were dining at a high-end restaurant in the same district.

A spokesman with the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection confirmed that an investigation was underway.

According to media reports on Tuesday, the officials had eaten at a Japanese restaurant, where private room patrons spend on average 3,000 yuan ($484) per person.