Five people, including engineers and supervisors, have received prison sentences for their roles in a fatal accident at a Beijing construction site that killed eight workers.

The Beijing First Intermediate People's court said the accident on Sept. 5, 2005 was caused by the malpractice of three people from the China 22nd Metallurgical Construction Company and two project supervisors from Beijing Xidi Global Engineering Consulting Co. Ltd.

Li Lejun, 56, the chief engineer of the project, was accused of ordering workers to build a scaffolding based on faulty blueprint that were never approved. His colleagues, 30-year-old engineer Yang Guojun and 46-year-old manager Hu Gangcheng were also given jail terms.

The Beijing court jailed Li for four years, Yang and Hu were both sentenced to three years and six months.

The two supervisors were sentenced to three years with a three-year reprieve.

The five turned themselves in on Sept. 27 2005 after receiving telephone calls from police.

The accident occurred in downtown Xidan when a scaffolding collapsed from a height of about 20 meters while concrete was being poured, killing eight workers and injuring 22 others.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2007)