Report: China sentences 49 to prison in Tianjin explosion cases

Courts in Tianjin Municipality sentenced 24 company managers and staff and 25 government officials for crimes related to the August 2015 warehouse explosion that killed at least 165 people and caused $1 billion in damage, according to media reports.    Chinese courts this week sentenced 49 people to prison for crimes related to the deadly August 2015 warehouse explosion in the northern port city of Tianjin, according to multiple media reports.
   The blasts ripped through a Ruihai Logistics Co. chemical storage warehouse in Tianjin port late at night on Aug. 12, 2015, leaving 165 people dead, eight missing and 798 injured, and damaging over 300 buildings, 12,000 vehicles, and 7,500 cargo containers. An article from the state-run Xinhua news agency pegged the economic losses resulting from the explosions at 6.87 billion yuan renminbi (U.S. $ 1.01 billion at today’s exchange rate).
   A government investigation into the incident released in February found the explosion was caused by improper storage of flammable chemicals, which “self-ignited” in the August heat.
   Defendants in the case, which included 24 Ruihai managers and staff, as well as 25 government officials, were tried in the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin and nine other grass-roots courts from Nov. 7 to Nov. 9, Xinhua said.
   In addition, the court convicted Ruihai Logistics Chairman Yu Xuewei of bribing Tianjin port officials with cash and goods valued at 157,500 yuan in exchange for a hazardous materials handling certificate, as well as illegal storage of hazardous materials and illegal business operations causing incidents involving hazardous materials.
   Yu was sentenced to “death with a two-year reprieve,” according to Xinhua, but the Associated Press said these sentences are often commuted to life in prison.
   The courts sentenced the deputy chairman and general manager of Ruihai Logistics and three other employees of the company to prison terms ranging from 15 years to life, and seven other staff members responsible for the incident to between three and 10 years in prison. Eleven people with a safety evaluation company that was found to have provided Ruihai Logistics with counterfeit safety reports were also handed jail time.
   The head of the Tianjin Municipal Transportation Commission, Wu Dai, along with 24 other government officials, were sentenced to prison terms lasting from three to seven years for dereliction of duty, abuse of power, and accepting bribes.