ALGIERS, Oct 9, 2012 (AFP) -
ALGIERS, Oct 9, 2012 (AFP) –
A court on Tuesday handed down prison sentences to three university officials found guilty of “involuntary homicide” after a deadly gas blast at a campus in western Algeria, official media reported.
The regional director of higher education was jailed for one year, while the director and an official responsible for maintenance at the university in Tlemcen, 520 kilometres (320 miles) west of the capital, where jailed for 18 months each, the APS news agency said.
The three accused, whose names were not given, were found guilty of “negligence” and “involuntary homicide.”
The gas explosion ripped through a campus restaurant in Tlemcen in May, killing eight people — seven students and a cleaning woman — and injuring 37.
The Bakhti Abdelmajid University where the accident happened is known to be in a dilapidated state.
