Managers under probe for Sichuan flash flood

The managers of several construction companies in Sichuan province are under investigation for not taking prompt action to avoid casualties in a flash flood that struck mountainous Jinyang county on Aug 21, leading to four deaths and 48 people being swept away and who remain missing.

According to the Sichuan commission of discipline inspection and the Sichuan commission of supervision on Monday, Xiong Guobin, Party secretary and president of Sichuan Road and Bridge Group, has been placed under investigation for alleged serious disciplinary and law violations.

Song Junjie, a manager in charge of safety and emergency management at Shudao Investment Group, and Liu Wen, Party secretary and president of Sichuan Yanjiang Panning Expressway, a subsidiary of SDIG, are also under investigation by the province's top anti-graft watchdog.

The Sichuan provincial Party committee on Friday decided to suspend Tang Yong, Party secretary and president of SDIG, in order for him to cooperate with the investigation.

A separate notice from Sichuan Road and Bridge Group said its general manager Chen Liangchun and deputy general manager Zhang Jianming are being held in custody by public security authorities for allegedly failing to report the accident when it occurred or deliberately providing false information about it.

Previously, five people had been detained by local police for not reporting the accident and then providing false information.

According to a news conference held on Aug 30, despite multiple warnings and alerts for heavy rain in the area, those in charge of the construction site did not transfer workers to a safe place.

They also falsified the number of people who went missing to evade more serious punishment.

A release from the local authorities on Aug 21 said there were only 85 people on site, yet the news conference on Aug 30 said there were 201 people, of whom 149 escaped the danger.

Huang Qiang, governor of Sichuan, said on Monday the incident has exposed holes in production safety and the accountability mechanism.

The whole province must learn the lesson and take measures to not repeat the mistakes, he was quoted by Sichuan Daily as saying.

Authorities should use various means to make sure the warnings are delivered to workers and those found to have violated production safety should be dealt with seriously, he said.