China: Officials punished for burying blast death toll
A total of 29 officials have been punished after the death toll in a factory blast in central China's Hunan Province was intentionally underreported, the state media agency Xinhua has reported. The number of fatalities in the 4 December 2019 explosion at a workshop of a fireworks company in the city of Liuyang was initially given as seven, but the provincial authorities later confirmed 13 people had been killed. Liu Fayu, then Party chief of Chengtanjiang Township who ordered concealment of the death toll and who had some bodies transferred and hidden, has been detained for investigation by supervisory authorities. Other officials who participated in, turned a blind eye to or failed to find the concealment have received penalties such as being removed from posts, major demerits and internal Party warnings. Ten people from the fireworks company have been placed under ‘criminal compulsory measures’ on suspicion of the crime of causing a major workplace incident.
Read more: Peoples’ Daily. Source: Risks 931