Party chief held accountable for Dongguan fire

Ye Jinrui, Party chief of Qingxi township, and his deputy Shen Zhipan, also head of the township, were among the 25 officials and business executives who were pursued and held accountable for a fire that killed seven people and injured another five in Dongguan, Guangdong province, on Sept 2.
Ye was given serious criticism and ordered to conduct a written inspection while Shen was given a disciplinary warning, according to a statement released by Dongguan city bureau of emergency management on its official website on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Dongguan city public security department has launched a further investigation for four persons who might be responsible for the deadly fire and would transfer them to judicial authorities to pursue criminal responsibility in accordance with the law, if they were found to have violated laws and regulations, said the statement.
The four persons responsible for the case include three senior business executives and a company security guard captain, said the statement.
Dongguan city government has approved the investigation report handed over by relevant departments, including public security, fire protection and emergency management, the report said.
The report said the fire was actually a production safety responsibility accident caused by the enterprises' failure to implement the main responsibility of enterprise fire safety and illegal use of fire to operate.
The tragedy took place in an old factory building in Hongmenshan industrial zone in the township's Changshantou village at about 11:20 am on Sept 2.
The area of the fire reached approximately 14,600 square meters, causing significant casualties.
Meanwhile the fire seriously destroyed or damaged some building structures, machinery, equipment and related items, resulting in a direct economic loss of about 10.5 million yuan ($1.5 million).
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