Officials sacked as five boys die in Guizhou dumpster
Officials sacked after youngsters perish in bin where they had lit a fire, in a tragedy highlighting the plight of street children
Eight officials in the Guizhou city of Bijie have been sacked or suspended for failing to protect the welfare of five boys found dead in a rubbish bin last week.
The victims, aged nine to 13, appeared to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning, after climbing into the dumpster and lighting a fire to escape the cold, the Bijie municipal government said in a statement yesterday.
The deaths, which were not made public for several days, prompted criticism of the local government.
They drew renewed attention to the plight of the mainland's street children, who are often the byproducts of broken families, migrant labour and a test-centric education system.
"This incident has exposed some of the weaknesses in social management, social aid and our work in preventing school drop-outs in Bijie," the government said.
Its statement was the first acknowledgement of the incident, even though the bodies were discovered in the rubbish bin by an elderly scrap collector during the early morning hours of Friday.
Reports of the discovery had circulated on the internet, fuelling widespread outrage at the police, civil affairs and city management authorities for failing to protect the boys, who were from Caqiangyan village in Qixingguan district.