Six people involved in the 2003 fire that took 33 lives in a hotel in Harbin, the capital of China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang, were sentenced on Tuesday.

Qi Shengli, manager of the Tiantan Hotel, and Qi Shengdong, deputy manager, were both given five-year prison terms. Qi Yanhua, also a deputy manager, was sentenced to three years. The three were also ordered to pay compensation totaling 741,810 yuan (US$89,400).

According to the Harbin Daowaiqu People's Court, all three violated the Chinese law on fire prevention by failing to install fire warning and prevention systems in the hotel when they held managerial posts. They also refused to make repairs that were ordered by the fire supervision department, and failed to stop employees from using naphtha solvent with kerosene, which poses a high risk.

Zhao Zhongli, Guo Xu, and Shen Hongxiang, naphtha solvent suppliers to the hotel, were given jail terms for dealing in naphtha solvent without licenses.

On February 2, 2003, employees of the hotel mixed naphtha solvent with kerosene for heating, causing the fire that killed 33 people, injured 10 and caused a direct economic loss of 158,393 yuan (US$ 19,100).

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2004)