ZHENGZHOU, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- A court in central China's Henan Province on Friday sentenced three individuals to prison terms ranging from six to seven years on charges of crime of major safety accident in educational facilities.

Thirteen students were killed and another one injured in a fire that took place in a dormitory of Yingcai School of Dushu Town in the province's Fangcheng County in January 2024.

The Fangcheng County People's Court sentenced Li Yu, the de-facto controller of the school, to seven years in prison. Xu Xiangyang, the school's principal, received a six-and-a-half-year sentence, and Jia Xia, a third-grade teacher who also served as a dormitory supervisor, was sentenced to six years in jail.

All of the three are prohibited from working in professions related to education and teaching within five years from the date of completion of their prison terms, according to the court verdict.

The court found that the school had been operating in violation of regulations and had not obtained a required registration certificate. When the fire occurred, there was no water in the rooftop water tank, and indoor fire hydrants were dry, hampering initial firefighting efforts. Meanwhile, smoke detectors in the school were out of power, failing to sound the alarm in time. Relevant people failed to effectively evacuate the students.

The court also found that the number of students living in the dormitory room that caught fire severely exceeded limits.

The court stated that the severe penalties were handed down to the three individuals given the extremely bad social impact of the accident. ■