Five people have been arrested on grounds of negligence for a fire at a warehouse, which left 17 people dead in Guangdong Province, south China, the Huizhou City government said Thursday.
Those arrested include the general manager from Yidong Yiwu Ltd. Co., which owns the market, and employees from Jinxuan Co., which manages the market, the city government said, citing the investigation report.
Meng Hongbing, head of the fire department of Huidong County, was also removed from his post, it said.
According to the report, the wholesale market had failed to identify fire hazards before the accident and its response to the fire was deemed "improper".
On Feb. 5, a 9-year-old boy who was playing with a cigarette lighter started a fire at a warehouse on the fourth floor of a wholesale market. The incident caused economic losses of around 11.73 million yuan (about 1.9 million U.S. dollars).
