In the small hours of Friday morning, the Taishan City Publicity Department announced on their Weibo account that two local officials had been put under investigation in relation to last week’s rafting accident, which killed eight people and injured 10. Five of those who died were visiting from Shenzhen.
The sudden flood came without warning for many rafters and local staff.
The department also announced that of those injured, five had successfully recovered and left the hospital while the remaining five were in stable condition.
The 'accident' in question took place on May 28, when tourists rafting in Taishan’s Fenghuangxia Scenic Area, in Guangdong province, were caught in the middle of a flash flood. Although an orange storm warning had been released that morning for both Taishan and Jiangmen, which administers Taishan’s government, workers at the scenic area decided to keep the rafting area open for reasons that are still under investigation.
Rescuers on the night of May 28.
The publicity department’s Weibo account declared that Taishan Sports Bureau Chief Li Zibo and City Tourism Bureau Chief Wei Siyuan had been temporarily suspended from their positions for pushing blame back and forth during the press conference that immediately followed the incident. Together they had, according to the post, created a “very bad influence” and would be put under investigation as a result.
What exactly happened at the press conference? According to reporters at Nanfang City News, the tourism bureau chief Wei Siyuan said that since Fenghuangxia Scenic Area wasn’t an A-level rated destination, it didn’t fall under his jurisdiction. He handily passed blame to his fellow bureau chief by declaring that the rafting area’s license had been approved through the Sports Bureau, not his own department.
Li Zibo, who was in charge of the Sports Bureau, said that in a meeting with the rafting enterprise the previous month, he had brought up the point that the rafting area should close down if there were any adverse weather conditions.
He attempted to avoid responsibility for what had happened: “Although we stated our requirements, we could not force the enterprise to shut down."
When questioned further about why they could not have used their authority to prevent the incident from happening, or if they had done their utmost to aid the tourists in danger, reporters were unable to get any straight answers.
Officials and reporters at the press conference.
As a result, the two officials are currently under investigation by the Jiangmen City government.
Taishan City Secretary Zhang Lei has said that the local government will learn its lesson from the rafting incident and move to prevent further accidents from happening.
Seven teams have been dispatched in the county-level city to inspect local tourism programs as well as other safety risks including dangerous substances, mines, reservoirs, rivers, roads, and construction sites.
[Images via Taishan People's Government]
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