Reprieve for pair after fatal accident
A local construction company official and his contractor were both sentenced to a year in jail with a year's reprieve for causing an accident that resulted in a worker's death, prosecutors in Qingpu District said on Wednesday.
Qingpu District People's Procuratorate said a vice-general manager surnamed Sun, who was in charge of a drainage pipeline cleaning project, entrusted the project to a municipal engineering company owned by a man surnamed Dai.
Dai's company wasn't qualified to maintain and repair drainage pipelines and Sun was clear about that, prosecutors said.
In July last year, Sun called Dai and asked him to clean a pipeline near the crossroads between Songze Avenue and Panzhen Road in Qingpu's Xujing Town. Dai sent some workers to do the job, including Yang, the man who died.
At about 11pm that night, Yang used a bag to block sewage from the upper side of the pipe before clearing the sludge inside. However, the sewage broke through and Yang got stuck inside. He suffocated to death.
The company's general manager was said to bear some responsibility but wasn't charged as he had informed the contractor of the security warnings on the contract, surrendered himself to police and won the forgiveness of the victim's family after making compensation.
Sun also received a lenient penalty after surrendering himself to police and compensating the dead man's family.