127 people culpable in fatal flash flood at construction site

Anti-corruption authorities in Sichuan province announced on Monday that 127 members of the Communist Party of China and leading personnel have been held accountable for suspected disciplinary and legal violations, as well as dereliction of duty, related to a flash flood in the province last August.

The province's public security authority has also initiated investigations and taken action against 12 corporate personnel suspected of illegal and criminal activities, according to a statement from the commission for discipline inspection of the CPC Sichuan provincial committee.

On the morning of Aug 21, a brief but intense, rainfall triggered a flash flood in Jinyang county, Sichuan, destroying the accommodations of construction workers on a nearby highway project, resulting in six deaths, 46 missing persons and 21 injuries.

The construction project was managed and operated by the Sichuan-based Shudao Investment Group.

However, as rescue and verification efforts continued, discrepancies were found in the number of missing persons reported by the construction enterprise.

On Aug 30, following an investigation by local police, five individuals from the project's management and operation were criminally detained for "failing to report and falsely reporting a safety accident".

According to China Media Group, an investigation report on the flash flood, which was approved at an executive meeting of the Sichuan provincial government, was also released on Monday.

The report found that the flash flood and mudslide were induced by a short period of heavy rainfall, while the local topography and geological conditions exacerbated the disaster's severity.

Both the accommodation of construction workers during the flood season, which violated regulations, and the project management's failure to organize a timely evacuation were "significant causes" of the substantial casualties and missing persons in the disaster, it said.

The involved enterprises deliberately engaged in illegal actions of falsifying and concealing the number of missing persons, the investigation report said.

It concluded that local governments and relevant departments failed in disaster prevention and response, routine flood control management and project construction supervision, with some officials tacitly condoning some enterprises' actions of falsifying and hiding the number of missing persons.

According to the latest statement, eight people including Tang Yong, chairman of Shudao Investment Group, and Fang Fenghua, Party chief of Jinyang county, were placed under investigation and taken into custody by the discipline inspection and supervision authorities.

Six of them were expelled from the Party and public office for serious disciplinary and legal violations, with their suspected criminal activities transferred to procuratorial authorities for legal review and prosecution. The remaining two are still under investigation, it said.

Another two executives from local road and bridge construction enterprises, as well as 12 others, who were suspected of falsely reporting safety accidents or major liability accidents, have been investigated and detained by public security departments.

Those cases have now entered the court process, according to the statement, while 10 CPC members or subjects of supervision among them were expelled from the Party and public office or had their labor contracts terminated.

The discipline inspection and supervision authorities also imposed varying degrees of punishment, including dismissals, on another 109 individuals responsible for violations of disciplines and laws, and dereliction of duty related to the flash flood disaster.

Among the 12 people who were dismissed was Zhang Jianming, deputy general manager of Sichuan Road and Bridge Group, and Wu Guo, head of Jinyang county government.

The statement noted that two deputy governors of Sichuan province were also found responsible and were required to "make profound reflections".