Major changes after the Shanghai stampede that killed 36

An inquiry into the Shanghai New Year's eve stampede on the riverfront in Shanghai has resulted in the recommendation that four senior officials were to be sacked. 

According to the SCMP, the Shanghai municipal government report criticised Huangpu district officials for failures in risk assessment, public communication, crowd control preparation and monitoring, as well as their response in dealing with the disaster.

The inquiry recommended sacking the Communist Party head of the Huangpu area Zhou Wei, district government chief Peng Song, deputy district chief Zhou Zheng and the district police chief Chen Qi.

The report also said the district’s police did not carry out a risk assessment for the New Year’s Eve countdown and only deployed 350 officers, 100 paramilitary police and 108 auxiliary officers for crowd control on the Bund.

Issues have raised over how such a major tragedy could have happened in China's wealthiest and best-maintained city.