Lankao government takes blame for blaze   

河南私人弃儿收养所火灾事故：政府承认工作纰漏

5日下午，河南省兰考县政府召开新闻发布会，通报该县“1·04”私人弃儿收养所火灾事故救援及善后处理事宜，公布政府部门允许涉事户主袁厉害常年收养弃儿的缘由，并承认监管不到位，工作确实存在纰漏。

Kaifeng (CNS) -- The local government of Lankao County in central China's Henan Province admitted Saturday that its lack of oversight had played a hand in the fire that killed at least seven at a private orphanage.

The fire which broke out Friday morning has brought the local government under public scrutiny, along with Yuan Lihai, the woman who ran the orphanage.

Wu Changsheng, deputy county governor, said at a press conference that they had allowed Yuan to illegally adopt children over the years and "bore unshirkable responsibilities" for the tragedy.

"We have loopholes in our work," he said.

Yuan, who has her own children and is not financially stable, was not qualified to adopt so many children and hadn't registered with the local civil affairs bureau, Wu added.

Responding to the question of why Yuan had been allowed to adopt more than 100 children for as long as 26 years, Wu said they had tolerated it out of consideration for her "kind-hearted acts." He added that the local government had taken some measures, like making Yuan send some of the kids to legal welfare houses, but that it was not enough.

Wu said that the local government had provided subsistence allowances for 20 children from the orphanage and granted some census registrations. Another 10 children adopted by Yuan, who was absent when the fire broke out, have been sent to a welfare home in Kaifeng, he said.

The Ministry of Public Security has sent experts to investigate and Yuan is still in police custody, sources said.