An electrician and three others have been blamed for a hospital fire that killed 39 people in Liaoyuan, Jilin Province, last December and will be prosecuted, according to local authorities on Thursday.

Investigations by local police show that a sudden power outage, as a result of human error, was what caused the fire.

Zhang Diankun was head of the hospital electrician team and was on duty at the time.

Investigations also show that electrical cables were strewn about the electrical distribution room. This contributed to the fire. Zhao Yongchu, Sun Fenglin and Jin Chengtai, have been held responsible for the disorderly electrical distribution room.

On December 15, 2005, a fire broke out at the City Central Hospital in Liaoyuan, about 120 km southwest of Changchun. The fire started at about 4:30 PM and was put out at 10:00 PM that night.

The fire destroyed about 5,000 square meters of the four four-storied buildings, which are conjoined to form a square.

The fire was the worst involving medical institutions since the founding of new China in 1949, Health Minister Gao Qiang said.

Local police have detained 11 people in connection with the fire, including hospital president Li Mingming and vice president Wang Shaowen, who will be charged with neglecting their duties, according to the provincial public security bureau.

The two hospital heads did not report the fire to the local fire department until 30 minutes after the fire broke out, according to the provincial fire prevention department.

(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2006)