China charges two managers for Carrefour stampede
BEIJING, July 11 (Reuters) - Chinese prosecutors have charged two safety managers at a Carrefour store with negligence over a deadly stampede amid a chaotic promotion for cooking oil last year, local media said on Friday.
Three people were killed in November when hundreds of customers crushed into one of the French retail giant's stores in downtown Chongqing, a metropolis in southwest China. Thirty-one people, mostly elderly, were injured.
Xiang Xuexin, manager of the store's "damage prevention department", and assistant manager Duan Chengwei had been charged with negligence by local prosecutors, and their trial would open soon, the Beijing News said.
Duan had placed desks at three entrances of the store to try to control the crowd, leaving only narrow passes for the customers anxious to get in, it said.
Xiang failed to ask Duan to remove the desks when he inspected safety measures before the promotion started, the newspaper said.
Dangerous crowding is common in China's often cramped stores with discount goods at supermarkets being a powerful lure for urban residents juggling tight budgets and ballooning food prices.
Price promotions, including those for essential cooking oil, can attract huge crowds as consumers seek relief from inflation that has approached the highest rates in nearly 12 years. Food costs make up one-third of the consumer price index in China.
Carrefour stores across China were mired in anti-French protests earlier this year after pro-Tibet activists disrupted the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay ahead of next month's Beijing Games. Angry Chinese youth later called for a boycott of the retail giant. (Reporting by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Ken Wills)
