Officials ask for punishment

Press, 29 January 1988, Page 6

Officials ask for punishment

NZPA-Reuter Peking China’s national airline chief and a top railway official have apologised for lax work and asked to be punished for two transport disasters that killed nearly 200 people, the official media said. Hu Yizhou, directorgeneral of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and a Vice-Minis-ter of Railways, Li Senmao, made the apologies at a State Council session held to draw lessons from the disasters, the “People’s Daily” said. "They expressed their deep regret that the work of their own departments was not done well and had such grave consequences,” the newspaper said. The Railways Minister, Ding Guangen, had earlier been reported as apologising for “defects in railway work.” Technical breakdown has been officially blamed for the crash of a Chinese Ilyushin 18 airliner in south-west China on January 18. The crash killed

108. One of the four engines caught fire and another failed, official reports said. On Sunday, 87 people died when an express train overturned in south China, the fourth serious accident on Chinese railways reported this month. Official sources have not given the reason for the crash. At the State Council session, Acting Premier Li Peng ordered transport departments to take stern measures to improve safety before the Chinese New Year next month, when trains and planes are usually filled to capacity with Chinese travelling to be reunited with their families. He called for negligent officials to be punished and for security departments to “resolutely smash illegal activities which destroy transport safety,” the “People’s Daily” said. Earlier reports said a train fire in Hunan province that killed 34 earlier this month was started by a bucket of flammable paint carried by a passenger and that a train collision resulting in 19 deaths in north-east China was caused by sabotage.