China sacks work safety chief after Tianjin blasts

Baku. 26 August. REPORT.AZ/ China has sacked the head of its work safety regulator for suspected corruption, following blasts that killed more than 100 people in the port city of Tianjin this month, Report informs citing Reuters.

The ruling Communist Party's graft watchdog began an investigation into Yang Dongliang last week following the massive explosions in a warehouse storing dangerous chemicals.

A total of 139 people are now confirmed to have died, while 34 remain missing.

A brief statement carried by Xinhua, citing the party's organization department which is responsible for personnel decisions, said Yang had been stripped of his position as chief of the State Administration of Work Safety.

He is suspected of "serious breaches of discipline and the law", the report said, using the usual euphemism for corruption.

It gave no other details and it was not possible to reach Yang for comment. Officials are almost always fired soon after announcements of party graft investigations.

The government has not explicitly linked Yang's case to the Tianjin incident, but the company that operated the chemical warehouse that blew up did not have a license to work with such dangerous materials for more than a year.

Yang was vice mayor of Tianjin, a city of 15 million people, until 2012.