October 10, 2000

Guangzhou Daily and China Daily report that Ke Changli, an employee of the Gezhouba Group (the largest contractor for the Three Gorges dam), is suing Rotec Corporation for US$420,000 for supplying the concrete conveyor Ke Changli claims was responsible for her husband’s death late last year at the dam site. Ke Changli received US$7,250 in compensation after her husband, Ke Shanlin, a Three Gorges machine operator, died on Nov. 19, 1999, while using the Rotec conveyor’s lift system. Her lawyer, Deng Yiping, said the sum of money they were claiming in the lawsuit was calculated according to the regulations issued by the Supreme People’s Court in 1992 and relevant laws in the United States. According to a China News Service report on Sept. 15, 19 people have died so far this year in various Three Gorges dam-related accidents.