12 people arrested over CCTV new tower blaze

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-25 14:22

BEIJING -- Police have arrested 12 people, allegedly involved in causing an accidental fire at China Central Television's (CCTV) new building in February, a court official told Xinhua on Wednesday.

The Beijing Municipal Procuratorate decided to arrest the 12 on March 17, a procuratorate official said.

People click photographs of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Beijing that was gutted Feb 9, 2009. Fire destroyed the building that was part of the complex housing China Central Television's new headquarters. [Agencies]

They were detained, but not formally arrested, on February 11, accused of "causing an accident with dangerous articles." The arrest means they will face trial, the official said.

The 12 arrested include former head of the CCTV's construction office named Xu Wei, three employees of the construction team and eight employees from the fireworks provider Hunan Sanxiang Fireworks Company, the official said.

One of the three CCTV employees is Sha Peng, also board chairman of Supernova media Development Company, which is the intermediate company between CCTV and Sanxiang, the official said.

Xu Wei was detained by police just after the fire. The eight employees of the firework company fled to the neighbouring Hebei Province but were found and taken to Beijing, police said.

The highest punishment for this alleged crime is seven years in jail.

A further five were detained on February 15 for illegally transporting a large amount of banned fireworks into Beijing. They are still under investigation and the procuratorate has yet to decide if it will arrest them.

The fire on the night of February 9, involved a 30-storey building which housed the nearly-completed luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel, part of the new headquarters of the state television network, in Beijing's Central Business District.

A fireman died and seven people, including six firemen and a construction worker, were injured in the blaze.

CCTV hired a company to ignite several hundred grade A fireworks outside the hotel that night for the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival which marks the end of Lunar New Year celebrations.

Fireworks were allowed in downtown Beijing until midnight during the Spring Festival, but powerful grade A fireworks must have police approval before being set off.

According to the Beijing Fire Control Bureau, CCTV failed to get the police permit. It even ignored warnings from officers for it to cancel the fireworks show, the bureau said.