Wang Liying, 59, also the Party’s secretary general of the bureau, received a major demerit from the administrative system and a warning from the Party, according to the Central People’s Government Website. Such punishment will hurt officials’ chances of being promoted or end their political careers.

This recent report is part of the string of punishments to those responsible for the explosion of a Chief of the provincial environment protection bureau in northeastern China’s Jilin Province was severely punished by the State Council for his responsibility in the contamination of the Songhua River, Chinese media reported today. The plant, affiliated with China National Petroleum Corp, shocked the province’s capital city Jinlin with an explosion in one of its distillation towers, leaving eight dead and at least 60 others injured.

Besides a direct loss of 69 million yuan (US$8.77 million), the mishap also caused a spill of over 95 tons of benzene, a harmful carcinogenic chemical, halting the water supplies of tens of millions in China and Russia. An investigation into the incident confirmed that it was related to a violation of the country’s work safety regulations, the report said. The other 11 who are responsible, including the vice president with the corporation, general manager of the chemical plant and the chief of the city’s environment protection bureau, also received administrative punishments from the State Council. The State Council has asked leaders at all levels to raise their awareness of work safety regulations, and learn from the mistakes of others. C

hina has more than 20,000 chemical factories along its major rivers, including 10,000 along the Yangtze River and 4,000 along the Yellow River.