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Associated Press in Beijing

Two fire chiefs and two poultry farm bosses have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to nine years in relation to a fire at a plant in the northeast last year that killed 121 people and injured 76 others, state media reported on Saturday.
The June 2013 fire in Jilin province was the country’s deadliest industrial accident in five years and highlighted continuing violations of safety regulations despite recent improvements in the country’s work safety record.

Survivors at the time described workers, mostly women, struggling through smoke and flames in the poultry processing plant to reach doors that turned out to be locked or blocked after an electrical short circuit ignited flammable goods.
On Friday, two district courts in Changchun city sentenced two bosses of the plant and two fire officials, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The chairman of Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry, Jia Yushan, was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined 1 million yuan (HK$1.26 million) for not ensuring the working environment was safe, and former general manager Zhang Yushen was sentenced to four years for installing substandard equipment, Xinhua said.
Lyu Yandong, the former chief of the local fire department, and his deputy Liu Guicai were convicted of abuse of power and sentenced to prison terms of up to five-and-a-half years. Prosecutors previously said they had failed to carry out any serious inspections of the plant and falsified information after the fire to try and cover that up.
 


Fire chiefs and poultry plant bosses jailed for 2013 Jilin fire that killed 121

Smoke rises at the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry farm in northeast China's Jilin Province in June, 2013. Photo: Xinhua

Rescue workers clear debris after the fire at the chicken processing plant. Photo: Reuters

Relatives of the dead workers hug each other and weep in a clearing outside the plant after the deadly fire. Photo: AFP

Top officials escape blame in Jilin poultry plant fire, critics say

Spokesmen of government departments concerned with health, environment, safety supervision and fire fighting mourn for the victims of a fire accident at a press conference in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin province, on June 6. Photo: Xinhua

China says short circuit caused Jilin poultry fire that killed 121

A paramilitary policeman wearing a mask stands guard in front of the burnt-out site of a poultry slaughterhouse in Dehui. Photo: Reuters

Jilin governor apologises for poultry plant fire as death toll rises to 120

A paramilitary policeman guards the burnt-out plant. Photo: Reuters

Jilin slaughterhouse blaze site off limits as relatives mourn

Family members of the blaze victims stand over wreaths placed on the roadside near the poultry factory yesterday. An explosion in the slaughterhouse killed at least 120 people on Monday. Photo: Simon Song

News

China

Two fire chiefs and two former chicken farm bosses jailed for up to nine years after convictions over China's deadliest industrial accident in five years 
