Officials punished after 4 kids’ deaths

Two construction officials were fired and another one was placed under accountability procedures after four children were found dead at a construction site in a county in Henan province on Saturday.

According to a statement released by the Yuanyang county government on Tuesday, the two officials — Sun Guoan, head of the county’s housing and construction bureau, and Wang Jiangang, the head of the bureau’s safety office — were removed for misconduct in supervision and management.

The official who was subject to accountability procedures is Wei Xueyi, the head of the county’s urban management and law enforcement bureau. He will face punishment after further investigation is concluded.

The accident occurred at a construction site in the county on Saturday.

According to an initial investigation, violation of the operation of vehicles led to the death of four children, and the construction company was also found to have not obtained a construction permit, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Further, the site’s excavator was operated improperly when the accident happened.

The four children, all from a nearby village, were believed to have entered the construction site through a gap in the fence and were buried alive by earth falling onto them while they were playing on the site.

Xinxiang city and Yuanyang authorities immediately set up a joint team to conduct an investigation after the accident.

Eight suspects, including the manager of a residential building project and an excavator driver, were detained by local police.

The parents of the dead children agreed to autopsies, according to media website huanqiu.com.

The results of the autopsies have not been released, and the parents expect an answer as early as possible. Further investigation is underway.