Former worker says he lit fatal blaze over owed wages
BEIJING — A former worker told state media Wednesday he set the fire that killed 14 young workers at a Chinese undergarment factory because he was angry about less than $500 in unpaid wages.
The suspect, Liu Shuangyun, said he started the fire “because I couldn’t get my salary,” which he had been owed since quitting the factory three years ago.
Asked whether he had thought about or regretted the loss of life the fire had caused, Liu said, “I didn’t think about these things.”
Fourteen people were killed and one was seriously injured in the fire Tuesday afternoon in Shantou city in Guangdong province, the provincial emergency department said on its microblog.
The 14 victims were all women aged 18 to 20. The official Xinhua News Agency said the victims were 13 women and one man. It said Liu, a 26- year- old migrant worker from Hunan province, had been arrested, but it didn’t specify what charges he faced.
The case has underscored the hand-to-mouth existence of many young Chinese migrant workers and raised questions about basic fire safety at the countless small factories that churn out clothes and other goods and have helped power China’s economic growth for decades.
Xinhua said the suspect spent $6 on gasoline used to start the blaze and fled the scene after his alleged crime.
“The whole time, I’ve been very impulsive, very angry about this,” Liu said during the television interview. “So I did these things.”
Sitting on a chair, his hands in handcuffs, Liu said the factory boss owed him nearly $500. The reporter said that after Liu quit the factory, his former boss had only given him excuses for why he couldn’t pay the back wages.
“THE WHOLE TIME, I’VE BEEN VERY IMPULSIVE, VERY ANGRY ABOUT THIS.”
LIU SHUANGYUN
A photo accompanying the Guangdong TV report showed a four-storey building, lined with windows on each floor, its front completely blackened. The fire had not spread to an adjacent building.
Geoffrey Crothall, a spokesman for China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong- based worker’s rights group, said unpaid salaries are a major source of worker discontent in China.
“A lot of this is related to the current economic climate, a lack of credit in the system, a lack of capital in circulation,” Crothall said. “If companies are not getting paid for their products, then they’re not going to pay their workers.”