Shanghai fires 4 officials, punishes 7 others for Shanghai stampede
A man prays after laying flowers at the site of a New Year's Eve deadly stampede in Shanghai, China. Shanghai fired four top district officials for insufficient preparation and response to the stampede that killed 36 people, the city government announced Wednesday, Jan. 21. 2015. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
Updated January 21, 2015 at 6:54 PM
The Shanghai government punished 11 officials Wednesday for not providing adequate safeguards to prevent the New Year's Eve stampede in the city.
Four of the officials: Zhou Wei, Communist Party chief of Huangpu District; Peng Song, district governor; Zhou Zheng, deputy governor; and Chen Qi, Huangpu's public security chief and deputy police of the district were removed from their posts.
Seven other officials in tourism, public security, and urban management received disciplinary punishments.
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Investigators said that while huge crowds packed the city's Huangpu district, district party Chief Zhou Wei and other officials were attending a banquet at a lavish Japanese restaurant nearby.
The district tourism bureau blames inadequate publicity and security before and during the New Year's Eve event that led to a stampede that killed 36 people and injured 49.
The investigation's report also revealed that there was no risk assessment made for the change of the New Year's Eve countdown venue.
Since the stampede, three of the critically injured are still in the hospital, authorities said.
Each victim's family will get a compensation of $130,000.
Report complied with information from Xinhua and CCTV News
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