Contractor offers compensation to victims of power plant collapse

FENGCHENG, Jiangxi - Contractor of the Ganneng Fengcheng power station, where the collapse of a cooling tower killed 74 construction workers Thursday, has made a compensation offer to victims' families.

The Hebei Yineng Tower Engineering Co. Ltd. said on Sunday that it would offer 1.2 million yuan (173,500 US dollars) to each victim's family.

Over 500 relatives of the victims are descending on the site in East China's Jiangxi province. Some have already signed compensation contracts.

Construction of the cooling tower is part of the expansion of the Fengcheng Power Plant owned by Jiangxi Ganneng Co. Ltd., a state-owned power corporation listed in Shenzhen. Trading of its shares was suspended Thursday following the accident.

Most of the victims were from the provinces of Hebei and Hubei.

Police are carrying out DNA matching between the victims and their families. So far, 34 matchings have been made.

A work group from the State Council is investigating the cause of the collapse.

The designed height of the tower was 156 meters. Over 70 meters had been completed.