BEIJING, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The vice mayor of Jilin city in northeast China has been found dead, after being accused of covering up a toxic spill that caused dangerous river pollution.
The city's Communist Party press office announced the death of Wang Wei Wednesday, saying he had died a day earlier but giving no details as to the cause of death, the South China Morning Post reported.
The Singapore news website, zaobao.com, said Wang had been found dead in his home, but also gave no details.
Xinhua news agency reported that the head of the national work safety agency, Li Yizhong, had vowed Tuesday to "sternly" punish those responsible for the chemical plant explosion in Jilin on Nov. 13, which caused 100 tons of toxic leakage into the Songhua River, the area's main water supply.
Wang, who was in charge of environmental protection in the city, was quoted in local press two days after the spill as saying it would not cause large-scale pollution.
Some ten days later officials admitted that the toxic substance benzene had been released into the water. Water supplies to the city of Harbin, with a population of 3.8 million, were cut off for four days as the spill passed the city.
