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SCMP Reporter

A Shanghai party deputy secretary has taken over as Jiangxi party boss less than a month after a school explosion in the province killed at least 42 children and teachers.

Xinhua yesterday reported that Meng Jianzhu, 54, had been appointed party secretary of the province. The report said incumbent Shu Huiguo, 63, would take another post, but gave no details.

The agency also said Jiangxi Governor Shu Shengyou, 65, had been removed as deputy party secretary, implying he would soon step down as provincial governor. The Shus are not related.

A Jiangsu native, Mr Meng has held a number of party positions in Shanghai since graduating from the Shanghai Mechanical Engineering Institute in 1991. He was named a vice-mayor in 1993 but has been in charge of party affairs in recent years.

The Xinhua report did not give any reasons for the appointments in Jiangxi, nor did it say if Shu Huiguo and Shu Shengyou lost their party jobs over the explosion.

According to official reports, a lone madman identified as Li Chuicai set off the March 6 blast after taking two bags of explosives to a primary school in Fanglin village. Reports said 42 people, including Li, died in the blast.

Earlier media reports quoted victims and witnesses saying that the students were forced to make fireworks to pay for school fees.

Premier Zhu Rongji later said investigations had confirmed students were forced to make fireworks in 1999. But the practice was stopped last year after a similar accident in the province, Mr Zhu said. He promised to find out the truth of the incident after admitting that an earlier account of the disaster he gave did not tally with overseas media reports.

Central authorities have begun to hold provincial leaders responsible for major accidents. Last year, Communications Minister Huang Zhendong and Shandong Governor Li Chunting were disciplined by the Communist Party for a 1999 ferry accident in which 282 people died.

At least 309 people died in a disco fire in Luoyang, Henan province, last December, and four explosions in Hebei's Shijiazhuang killed 108 people on March 16. But there were no indications yet that Henan Governor He Keqiang or Hebei Governor Niu Maosheng would lose their jobs.

Xinhua has identified another farmer who allegedly sold explosives to Jin Ruchao, the 40-year-old suspect behind the series of blasts at workers' dormitories in Shijiazhuang. Hou Huaiying was named as the fourth man who supplied Jin with explosives. Earlier, it was reported that police had arrested farmers Wang Yushun and Hao Fengqin for selling Jin the explosives.

Hu Xiaohong, a resident from Chongqing City, was also arrested for allegedly selling Jin detonators and fuses in June last year. Xinhua now said the four had been formally arrested. The Hebei Daily  reported last week that 19 people had been held over the incident.



Move comes less than a month after school blast killed at least 42 children and teachers