Outcry after China lauds 'diligent' officials for handling blaze that killed 5 firefighters
Outrage as statement lauds officials instead of firefighters who died in Harbin warehouse blaze
Propaganda officials in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, have sparked an outcry after they turned tragic news of five firefighters' deaths in a warehouse blaze into a story lauding the "diligent senior officials who had directed the firemen".
The firefighters had just put out the flames in a massive blaze at a groceries warehouse in Daowai district on Friday night when the gutted building collapsed. The youngest of the five firemen was only 18, and the oldest, 22. Fourteen others were injured.
But in a 585-word official news release on the incident yesterday, the local government put the focus firmly on the nine provincial and municipal senior officials who had "rushed to give directives and organise search and rescue efforts on the front line", releasing their full names and job titles.
The death toll was mentioned only at the end of the statement, which said the firefighters - who were not named - were "assisting the senior officials".
The statement enraged mainland microbloggers, drawing more than 6,400 comments slamming the "tragic news written in a characteristically Chinese manner" within hours of its being posted on Harbin police's weibo.
"The release breaks our hearts," one Harbin microblogger wrote. "Why is it that the lives of firefighters are so much less important than the titles of officials? Do the officials 'on the front line' even know how to extinguish a fire?"
