Lowered high-tension line, violation of safety rules and carelessness were to blamed for the electric shock accident that killed 12 workers Thursday in south China's Guangdong province, local officials said Saturday.

Guangdong Zhongrun Steel Industry Co., Ltd, where the tragedy occurred, had shunned governmental supervision and reduced the distance from the ground to high-tension line by filling in the uneven ground surface, thus posing a source of hazard, they acknowledged.

Twelve workers were killed and three others injured by electricshock Thursday night at a construction site in the province's Jieyang city.

Witnesses noted that the fatal accident occurred around 8 p.m. when the workers were removing an iron-framed work shed, which touched the high-tension line at the construction site of the Guangdong Zhongrun Steel Industry Co., Ltd, located in Rongcheng district of the city.

Eleven workers died at the site and four others were injured. One of the injured died later that night in hospital and another three are being treated, according to local police.

The on-the-scene direction by Chen Shaopeng, the company's deputy general manager, was in violation of the work safety regulations when workers were carrying out operation, according topolice's preliminary investigation.

Workers' lack of safety knowledge and self protection were alsopartly blamed for the deadly accident, according to the investigation.

Chen Shaopeng had been held by local police for further investigation.

Source: Xinhua