March 14, 2009

China sentences 6 in nightclub fire that killed 44

China has sentenced six people, including two former police officers and a firefighter, to jail for a nightclub fire that killed 44 people in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, state media reported.

The fire Sept. 20 started when a fireworks performance ignited flammable material on the ceiling of a club in Longgang district of the city of Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong.

Yang Zhouwu, the former chief of the Tongle police station, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking bribes worth 300,000 yuan ($43,865) from the King of the Dancers nightclub and for dereliction of duty, the official Xinhua News Agency said late Friday.