Officials punished for Chuzhou river pollution incident

Punishment procedures began Wednesday for a recent river pollution incident in Chuzhou, a city in East China's Anhui province, according to provincial authorities.

According to a statement released by a joint investigation team on Wednesday morning, a recent fire at a chemical repository in Quanjiao county resulted in polluted water flowing into the nearby Chuhe River.

The pollution led to mass fish deaths in the river's local section and lower reaches in the neighboring Jiangsu province, according to a media report.

The team's statement said the county's Party secretary had been removed from the position, and probes against other relevant responsible personnel were still underway.

The investigation team was founded by the provincial government and the provincial discipline inspection and supervision authorities, according to Anhui Daily.

Dou Ping, then director of the county's ecology and environment bureau, told China Central Television that the bureau had not checked the toxicity of leaked wastewater "because there was no necessity", according to a report by the media on Monday.

Yang Jun, an official with the county's water resources bureau, said he should not be too concerned about the incident as he would retire in two months.

Videos containing the comments by Dou and Yang went viral on Tuesday.

Dou's resume had been removed from the bureau's official website by Wednesday.