China Punishes Scores of Officials for Negligence in Two Fatal Accidents

Dozens of local officials, including provincial vice governors, have been punished in connection with a fire in Central China and a mine collapse in the north of the country, following investigations by the State Council into the two fatal incidents that combined left nearly 100 people dead.

In November, a fire broke out at a factory in Anyang, Henan province, killing 42 people and injuring two others. Three months later, an open-pit coal mine collapse in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region left 53 people dead, making it the deadliest such incident in China in more than seven decades.