11 arrested over landslide in Shenzhen

BEIJING • The Chinese authorities have formally arrested 11 people for their role in a deadly landslide last month in the southern boom town of Shenzhen and charged them with negligently causing a serious accident, state news agency Xinhua said.

The government has blamed breaches of construction safety rules for the disaster on Dec 20, when a dump overflowed and engulfed 33 buildings. It has started an investigation.

At least 12 people have been confirmed dead, while 62 are missing, Xinhua said late on Thursday.

The 11 people arrested include a legal representative and a deputy general manager of Shenzhen Yixianglong Investment Development, which ran the dump, as well as officials who were supposed to be supervising it, the report added, citing the Shenzhen prosecutor.

Calls to the company seeking comment went unanswered.

A former Shenzhen official committed suicide one week after the disaster. The former urban management chief for the city's Guangming New District jumped to his death from a building. He was identified only by the surname Xu.

In the wake of the tragedy, an executive with a government- appointed monitoring agency said it had urged the company to stop work four days before the disaster, citing safety concerns.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 02, 2016, with the headline 11 arrested over landslide in Shenzhen. Subscribe