Punishments of those responsible for three serious accidents that killed more than 300 in recent accidents were reported to the public after a State Council meeting Wednesday in Beijing, while leaders urged that prevention work to prevent similar accidents be strengthened.

Investigations showed that all three accidents were caused by slack management and imperfect safety measures and that relevant officials should be held accountable.

As suggested by the investigation teams, 68 people found responsible face punishments, among whom 13 will be turned over to judicial bodies. Another 55 will receive party or government disciplinary actions.

The most deadly of the three accidents occurred on December 23, 2003 in rural Kaixian County in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality when a China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) gas well exploded and released toxic gas.

As many as 243 villagers were poisoned to death and a large number of animals were killed.

Another accident happened in Beijing's suburban Miyun County on February 5 at 7:45 pm in Mihong Park, where thousands of people were celebrating the traditional Lantern Festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the first Chinese lunar month and is regarded as the last day of Spring Festival.

One spectator stumbled on a bridge, resulting in a stampede that caused many others to fall and be trampled to death. Many of the victims were crushed and suffocated by the crowd. In all, 37 died.

The last major incident had seen 53 victims killed on February 15 by a fire at the Zhongbai Department Store in Jilin City in Northeast China's Jilin Province.

The deadly blaze started at 11 am on the second floor of the department store, where crowds of people were doing weekend shopping. It also injured 70.

The State Council meeting accepted CNPC General Manager Ma Fucai's resignation, after he accepted blame. Ma had been asking to resign since the natural gas well blowout occurred.

The meeting, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, also demanded that Beijing municipal government, Jilin Province and the CNPC levy severe punishment on those responsible for the three accidents.

Wen said the punishments will show that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council are highly conscientious about the lives and safety of the people.

The meeting urged governments and companies across the country to learn from the three accidents and to remain alert so that similar accidents can be prevented from happening.

The interests of the people should be the basis for all government work and officials should be conscientious and avoid causing losses.

Safety rules must be improved and abided by strictly and emergency response systems should be set up and improved, Wen said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2004)