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SCMP Reporter

The Chinese embassy in India has relocated Chinese engineers  involved in a construction accident that killed at least 45 Indian labourers last week, after reports said the workers had been prevented from leaving the region.
A staff member at the  embassy said the engineers had been moved from the town of Korba  in central Chhattisgarh  state to a satellite city near New Delhi.
'They are in a safe place now,' said the staff member with the embassy's media office, who would only give his surname as Liu.
Liu would not comment on a report in The Indian Express newspaper, which said the Chinese employees had been stopped by Indian police from leaving the state, where a partially built chimney for a thermal power plant caved in on Wednesday.  
Liu said the Chinese employees worked for the Shandong Electric Power Corporation, which was given the contract to construct the chimney. He said the  company then subcontracted the project to an Indian construction company.
'The case is now being handled through legal channels,' Liu said. 'The Indian construction company should be liable for the construction accident. The Chinese company does not bear the main liability.'
The 275-metre chimney collapsed on about 100 Indian workers during a heavy downpour.
The Indian Express put the death toll at 45 on Sunday, but the number is expected to rise further as dozens are still missing.
The thermal plant  is being built by the Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco), a mining group set up by the Indian government.
The report said five Chinese engineers had been stopped by Indian police at the airport in Raipur, the state capital, from leaving for Calcutta.  
 The report cited sources saying police had issued notices for the 89 Chinese, mostly engineers, employed by Shandong Electric Power Corporation, warning officials not to let them leave the state.
Agence France-Presse reported on Sunday that the police had ruled out bad weather as the cause of the accident and a case of culpable homicide had been registered against Balco.
It said the police had questioned the Chinese engineers and had asked the state and central governments to ensure the Chinese involved in the incident would not leave the country before investigations were complete.
Shandong Electric Power Corporation and the Chinese Foreign Ministry were not available for comment yesterday.



Fatal India chimney fall: staff relocated