Nine charged over destructive granary blaze sparked by short circuit

The fire that ripped through a grain reserve facility in Lindian county, Heilongjiang Province, was due to an electric short circuit which saw a wire stretched out from the distribution box.

This also rules out arson, which was alleged to be the cause of the fire that spread to 78 silos and eventually led to a loss of 1,000 tons of grain stock.

The origin of the fire was initially tracked by investigators to a power distribution box near the No.12 silo, and tests run by the lab under the Ministry of Public Security show it was the cause.

"It caused sparks that ignited reed mats and sacks nearby, and therefore, led to the disaster," said authorities with the investigation team.

Meanwhile, nine people working at the facility, including Gao Yanping, director of the granary, will be charged with negligence, the county's public security bureau confirmed to the Global Times on Monday.

Six of the nine people have been detained by the police, a police officer surnamed Li told the Global Times.

The fire was spotted on Friday afternoon and spread under strong winds and high temperatures, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The affected silos include 60 filled with corn and 18 with rice. "Further economic losses are still being investigated," said Luo Hongquan, deputy director of the granary, adding that a total of 140,000 tons of grains were stocked there when the fire happened.

Established in 1961, the granary has an area of 220,000 square meters and is operated by the Heilongjiang branch of the China Grain Reserves Corporation.

"If not given enough attention, wires are easily broken due to continuous frictions with the box during the daily operations," Mao Haifeng, a professor on safety and environment engineering in the Capital University of Economics and Business, told the Global Times.

"There should be appliances to prevent short circuits in a facility like that. And for a mature State-owned warehouse, it is necessary to follow the safety regulations," he added.