Two safety managers at a Carrefour store have been charged with negligence over a deadly stampede last year in which three people were killed, according to reports.
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The stampede, which happened in November last year, began after a crowd waiting for hours to take advantage of a promotion on cooking oil rushed through the doors when the store opened.
Three people were killed and a further 30 were injured at the French retail giant’s store in downtown Chongqing, a metropolis in southwest China.
Xiang Xuexin, manager of the store’s “damage prevention department”, and assistant manager Duan Chengwei have been charged with negligence by local prosecutors, and their trial is due to open soon, according to the Beijing News.
In the year before the incident, cooking oil prices in China had soared and the supermarket in Chongqing was reportedly offering a 20% reduction in the price of rapeseed oil.
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By GlobalDataAccording to reports, Duan had placed desks at three of the store’s entrances in a bid to control the crowd, leaving only narrow passes for the customers to get in.
Xiang failed to ask Duan to remove the desks when he inspected safety measures before the promotion started, the newspaper said.
Carrefour stores were again the subject of controversy across China when anti-French protests were held in May after pro-Tibet activists disrupted the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay ahead of the Beijing Games.
