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9 held over fatal bridge collapse

By Cai Ke (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-21 08:04

Nine people have been arrested after a viaduct collapsed, killing nine and injuring 16 others in Zhuzhou, Hunan province.

The 160-meter section of Hongqi Road Viaduct crashed to the road below on Sunday, crushing 24 cars underneath.

Rescuers examine the buried road at the site of a viaduct collapse accident that had killed 9 and injured 16 in downtown Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan province, Monday May 18, 2009. [Xinhua]

The 2,750-m bridge was to have been demolished Wednesday and a section of the structure a few dozen meters long was removed in a trial demolition on May 15.

Police arrested seven employees of the demolition company that were allegedly not qualified to be carrying out the work, reported the People's Daily.

Two government inspectors that allegedly failed to conduct proper checks were also arrested.

Meanwhile, Shen Ping, the Zhuzhou construction bureau chief, Zeng Jianhua, chief engineer and project manager Ding Wei were fired over their handling of the demolition.

It came as families of the nine victims were offered 400,000 yuan ($59,000) each in compensation from Zhuzhou city government.

Bodies of 5 victim were cremated before the end of Tuesday and their family members already received the money.

Li Zhiguo, government spokesman, said eight of the 16 injured people were still in hospital.

A 31-year-old man who suffered the worst injuries was in intensive care.

Meng Jianxin, secretary of Nanling civil demolition office, said parts of the viaduct were mechanically weakened on Sunday in preparation for the planned demolition.

The collapse was not linked to the test demolition because the removed piers, numbered 66 and 67, were hundreds of meters from the collapsed piers, numbered 102-109, he told Caijing.

Piers 109 and 110 were in the process of being mechanically weakened at the time of the collapse, he said.

The accident site was still cordoned off Wednesday. More than 400 police were on duty to help direct traffic jams caused by the bottleneck.

Seven streets that lead to the site were closed and 11 bus routes detoured.

Local residents questioned the procedures used in the trial demolition.

One, surnamed Zhang, said the communications authority did not block the traffic under the viaduct after the trial demolition.

"The viaduct was dangerous after the trial, and shot holes drilled on every pier must also have caused the safety problem," he said.

He said it would take 50 days at least for the government to hold a new round of bids to hire other contractors.

The cause of the blast has not been officially determined. A government work team led by Liu Raochen, head of the Hunan provincial bureau of work safety, is investigating the incident.