An official from Zhenxiong county, Yunnan Province, where a landslide recently claimed 46 lives, admitted on Wednesday that it was partially for stability's sake that the county government hastily incinerated the bodies of the victims without approval from the victims' families.
Zhu Henghui, director of Zhenxiong county government administrative office, said stability played a part in the decision making process of incinerating the victims' bodies, which led to protest from local villagers, who blocked the roads and demanded an explanation on Sunday.
Despite the announcement from the government claiming the landslide was a natural disaster, local villagers believe that the Gaopo coal mine, which is 500 meters from the landslide scene, is to blame for the landslide.
Zhu has agreed Wednesday to let villagers, who sent a joint letter to the State Council Wednesday to demand an re-investigation, check the local coal mine after the Chinese New Year, Beijing Times reported on Thursday.
Zhu could not be reached by the Global Times as of Thursday night.
Hu Peiwen, deputy head of the publicity department of Zhenxiong county, told the Global Times that the local government has dispatched work teams to persuade the villagers to claim the ashes of their beloved ones.
"The government's incineration of the bodies was done to prevent emotional distress to the villagers once they see them," Hu said, adding that epidemic prevention is another factor in the decision.
Hu's opinion was echoed by Zhou Chengwu, director of the Zhenxiong funeral parlor, who told the Xinhua News Agency that as the only funeral service provider in the area, the funeral house simply did not have enough ice tanks to store all 46 bodies.
"It's a small town and we only have limited resources. It's routine to incinerate bodies within 24 hours for those who died in natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides," Zhou said.
As of Wednesday night, no family member of the victims has picked up the urns from the Zhenxiong funeral house, the Beijing Times reported.
"We are working on persuading the villagers. Most of them have showed a certain degree of understanding of our work," Xiong Tao, an official from the publicity department of the Zhenxiong government, told the Global Times.
Despite the government assurances, Luo Yuanshou, the brother of one victim, said he still hasn't picked up his sister's ashes and that he finds the incineration highly inappropriate.
"I don't understand what they mean by maintaining stability. If it is truly a natural disaster like the officials have claimed, there is no need to fear how villagers would respond. The fact that they incinerated the bodies so hastily is a sign of cover-up. I will not claim my sister's urn until I find out what truly caused the disaster," Luo told the Global Times.
Thursday 17 January 2013
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/756679.shtml
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