Thirty-six people died while 49 others were injured during the Shanghai Bund tragedy. (Photo : Reuters)
Shanghai municipal authorities announced at a press conference held Wednesday that top officials of the district will be held accountable for the tragedy that killed 36 individuals on New Year's Eve at the Shanghai Bund.
A total of 11 officials have received punishment in varying degrees according to the report the authorities released at the press conference.
Zhou Wei, Party chief of Huangpu district, his deputy Peng Song, also district head, along with two other top officials of the district, have been fired from their offices.
Administrative or disciplinary punishments have also been imposed on seven other officials holding posts in public security, tourism and urban management departments.
The tragic stampede happened on the historic riverfront walk at around midnight on Dec. 31, 2014 leaving 36 people dead and 49 others injured.
Shanghai vice mayor Zhou Bo, who is also the deputy head of a joint investigation team created by the government, apologized to the victims of the tragedy and their families. He also expressed his condolences to those that were affected by the incident.
The district government also issued a notice announcing that the heirs and families of the victims will be receiving 800,000 yuan (around $129,000) as compensation.
According to the report based on the investigation, the punished officials of the district government and related departments have exercised "slack vigilance," failed to prepare accordingly and respond quickly to the tragedy.
The report states further that the insufficient number of police and security deployed at the event were due to the public security bureau's negligence of its duty by failing to conduct appropriate risk evaluation prior to the event.
It also says that a mere 500 police and urban management personnel were stationed at the area, while 310,000 people gathered at the Bund, leaving a dangerous ratio of just one personnel for every 610 people.
The security bureau should have issued early warnings to the district government when the rapid increase of visitors happened a few hours before the event.
The tourism bureau was punished for failing to provide safety reminders to the public and inform them early about events on the Bund on New Year's Eve.
"The objective of holding officials accountable is to strengthen a sense of responsibility among department heads," said Wang Hongwei, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China. He urged local authorities to think about strengthening prevention and response to emergencies.
Meanwhile, according to the local disciplinary watchdog, 10 other district officials have also been found to have violated the central leadership's frugality campaign as they were known to have had dinner near the stampede area in the night of the incident.
