Officials sacked over carbon monoxide poisoning deaths in school

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-04 23:01

XI'AN -- Two local officials were dismissed on Thursday after the death of 11 schoolgirls in a carbon monoxide poisoning incident earlier this week in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Jia Feng, deputy head of Dingbian County, was removed from the standing committee of the Dingbian county committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to the Yulin City CPC committee. Jia might also lose her post as the county's deputy head.

Mao Xin, Dingbian Education Bureau director, was also sacked.

Zhao Binghong, the former head of the school, was fired on Wednesday from his post for allegedly being responsible for the incident.

Twelve fourth-grade girls in the Duiziliang Middle School in Dingbian County were poisoned after using a charcoal heater to warm their dorm room on Monday night and early Tuesday. The oldest was only 11 years old.

Eleven died at the hospital. The sole survivor, Cai Maomao, who was being treated at the Dingbian County Hospital, was still in a coma, but the 11-year-old girl was recovering well, said doctors.

The incident is still being investigated, but police have said they believe a quilt fell on the stove during the night. It caught fire and ignited coal stored under a bed. As the coal smoldered, the students were poisoned by gases.

The family of each deceased student has been given 200,000 yuan (US$29,050) in compensation, according to the publicity office of Dingbian County.

Yulin City, meanwhile, will invest 200 million yuan to upgrade heating in its 381 rural primary and middle schools.