Authorities in Xi’an, in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, said Monday several people had been detained and they were conducting checks on the city’s subway system after an anonymous report warned of massive safety risks over faulty cables and local corruption.
In an article posted on an online bulletin board last week entitled “Do you dare to ride metro Line 3?” a person claiming to be an employee of Shaanxi Aokai Cable Co Ltd said the company had used shoddy and inferior materials in producing the subway line’s cables, which “seriously endangered passengers’ lives.”
Xi'an metro Line 3./ VCG Photo
The author, who remained unnamed, also alleged the company’s manager “offered bribes multiple times to the quality supervision bureau to have the cables accredited as qualified.”
The company won bids for the cables thanks to the manager’s personal connections with officials from the city’s subway administration department, the report also said.
The anonymous report caused an outcry online, with Chinese netizens slamming corrupt officials willing to endanger people’s lives.
The article entitled “Do you dare to ride the metro Line 3” posted by the self-claimed staff member from the contractor company of cables on Line 3.
At a press conference on Monday, the local Xi’an government said eight people from the contractor that supplied the cables had been detained.
A preliminary investigation found that randomly collected samples of cable from the subway line were not up to standard, it added.
The company has denied all allegations against it.
Xi’an metro Line 3 only started running last November, but Xi’an’s vice-mayor Lv Jian, vowed Monday to conduct security checks on all the city’s subway lines “to ensure the safety of the subway network.”
Company staff and government officials involved would also be prosecuted with no exceptions, local authorities warned.
Xi'an metro Line 3./ VCG Photo
This is not the first time that corruption-related poor subway construction has come to light in China.
In 2013, the former director of Beijing River and Lake Management Department was sentenced to death after being found guilty of embezzling over 11 million yuan (1.6 million US dollars) and accepting more than 48 million (7 million US dollars) in bribes.
This was linked to the flooding of the metro in 2010, which led to the death of one worker.
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