'Bizarre' inmate death sparks investigation

BEIJING - Public security authorities in Central China's Hubei province have begun an investigation into the unnatural death of a detainee, who died by "drowning in a laundry basin with shallow water" as local county police and prosecutors claimed.

The case, which netizens dubbed as "bizarre", came amid concentrated efforts by the Ministry of Public Security to prevent unnatural deaths of suspects during law enforcement - a campaign following a series of deaths of detainees in the past year.

Xue Hongfu, 55, from Huangling village, was found dead by his roommate, surnamed Zhu, around 6:40 am last Wednesday in a basin in the yard of a detention center of Gong'an county, Jingzhou city of Hubei.