China offers 13,000 dollars reward in deadly arson case

BEIJING, Feb 6 (Reuters) Chinese police have offered a reward of about 13,000 dollars for information leading to the arrest of an arsonist who set fire to a migrant workers' dormitory on Sunday, killing 17, Xinhua news agency today said.

The blaze engulfed the rooms where the labourers were sleeping above a store in Taizhou city in the eastern province of Zhejiang, a booming manufacturing hub attracting peasant workers from all over the country.

''After investigations, police confirmed that it was an arson case,'' Xinhua said.

A reward of 100,000 yuan had been offered to the public for any ''suspicious clues'', it added.

A similar tragedy hit Wenzhou city, also in Zhejiang, in April when fire raged through a migrants' dormitory and killed 10 people, including five who died of their injuries after leaping six storeys to the ground.

China reported 6,701 arson cases in 2006, down 12.8 per cent from 2005, the Public Security Ministry today said.

While the total number of crimes for 2006 stood at about 4.7 million, about the same as the previous year, there were fewer serious violent crimes such as homicides, rapes and explosions for the fourth consecutive year, the ministry said.

REUTERS SY BD1606