Feast held before Bund tragedy
Print Edition
SHANGHAI authorities are investigating allegations that an opulent banquet was held for Huangpu District officials on New Year’s Eve, just hours before dozens of people lost their lives in the Bund tragedy, the city’s disciplinary watchdog said yesterday.
An investigation was ordered following reports that officials from the district — which administers the Bund — dined at a high-end restaurant in the Bund Origin area of the city, where a ticket-only light show was held, a spokesman for the city’s Party discipline inspection commission said.
Just a few kilometers away on the Bund, tens of thousands of people gathered to celebrate the dawn of a new year. By the end of the night, a fatal stampede occurred, killing 36 people and injuring another 49.
According to a report published in Caixin magazine on Monday, the officials dined at the Utsusemi Japanese restaurant.
The eatery has four private rooms and serves a choice of set menus ranging in price from 1,888 yuan (US$305) to 3,888 yuan per person.
The restaurant is owned by a company operated by the Huangpu District government, the report said.
Staff there declined to confirm that district officials ate at the venue on New Year’s Eve, but said they did foot the bill.
The district government has been at the center of a storm in the aftermath of the fatal events of December 31.
The spokesman for the discipline commission said that full details of the investigation into the alleged dinner at the Bund Origin will be made public once completed.
Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong earlier described the events of New Year’s Eve as “a bloody lesson” for the city.
Several upcoming large-scale public events, including the Lantern Festival celebrations at Yuyuan Garden in the district and Guyi Garden in Jiading District, have since been canceled for security reasons.
Meanwhile, just six of the people hurt in the tragedy remain in hospital after two more were discharged yesterday, the Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission said.
Two of them are said to be in a serious condition, one of whom is critical, it said.
On Monday, 20-year-old Ooi Hooi Yi, a college student from Malaysia, was discharged from Changzheng Hospital after recovering from traumatic asphyxia — a potentially fatal crushing of the chest.
Ooi was one of the two Malaysians involved in the tragedy. The other was her cousin Tan Wei, a student at Zhejiang University, who lost her life on the Bund.
As well as her physical injuries, Ooi became depressed in hospital and was given psychological counseling, officials said.
When she left hospital on Monday, she presented staff with a red rose and an illustration of the doctors and nurses who had cared for her.
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