28 blamed for elevator accident

Twenty-eight people are being held responsible for an accident with an elevator that killed 19 painters at a construction site in Wuhan, Hubei province, last year.

The painters were going up in the elevator outside a residential building under construction in the Donghujingyuan development on Sept 13 when it plunged 100 meters to the ground.

A provincial investigation found that two of the four bolts that held the elevator in place were missing, and because it was overloaded with 19 adults and 250 kg of cargo, the final two bolts broke, causing the fall, Wuhan-based Chutian Metropolis Daily reported on April 7.

The provincial government said 28 people and several city government departments and companies were responsible for the serious work safety accident.

The committees and heads of housing and rural-urban development, urban administration and other departments in Wuhan that were involved were ordered to investigate and critique their role in the accident. Companies involved in the project will be re-inspected and receive an administrative penalty. An illegal building in this compound was confiscated.

Construction on the project has been put on hold since the accident.

- Zheng Jinran