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

Qi Shengli, manager of the Tiantan Hotel, and Qi Shengdong, deputy manager of the hotel were both given a five-year jail term.Qi Yanhua, deputy manager of the hotel, was sentenced to three years in prison. The three of them were also asked to pay compensation fund of 741,810 yuan (about 89,400 US dollars).

On February 2, 2003, employees of Tiantan Hotel in Harbin put solvent naphtha, an inflammable oil, in the kerosene used for heating. This led to a fire that killed 33 people, injured 10 and caused a direct economic loss of 158,393 yuan.

According to the Harbin Daowaiqu People's Court, the three people disobeyed the Chinese law on fire prevention and didn't install fire warning and prevention systems in the hotel when theybecame managers. They also refused to do any repairs when the firesupervision department asked them to do so. Besides, they failed to stop their employees from using solvent naphtha with kerosene, which poses a high risk.

Meanwhile, Zhao Zhongli, Guo Xu, and Shen Hongxiang, who sold solvent naphtha to Tiantan Hotel, were also given jail terms for their illegal business operation. They had no certificates for buying and selling solvent naphtha, the court verdict said.

Source: Xinhua