Four unlicensed welders were yesterday held directly responsible for the tragic fire in Luoyang's Dongdu Commercial Building, Xinhua reported.
The four were identified as Wang Chengtai, Song Long, Lai Dengge and Ding Xiaodong.
Xinhua said stray sparks from welding being performed by Wang started the deadly blaze.
'At about 9pm on December 25, Wang and three other welders . . . were working in the basement of the commercial building, when stray welding slag fell down on furniture and cotton flannel in the sub-basement and started the fire,' Xinhua quoted police as saying.
'Wang and his colleagues failed to put out the fire with water and fled the scene without reporting the fire. On Wednesday morning, the four were seized by police and confessed.'
Xinhua said the police account had been confirmed by porters working at the scene.