BEIJING, Dec 7: The vice mayor and environment chief for China’s Jilin city has been found dead, a local official said on Wednesday, amid accusations he was involved in last month’s cover-up of a huge toxic spill.

“He died yesterday,” a spokesman for the Jilin city Communist Party press office said, without giving any details of the cause of death.

“The police are investigating. We don’t know any more about it.”

Vice Mayor Wang Wei, who was just 43, was discovered dead at his home on Tuesday, Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong-based and Beijing-backed newspaper, reported on its website.

Mr Wang, who was also in charge of environment protection, took a high-profile role after a blast at the PetroChina chemical plant in Jilin on Nov 13 that killed eight people and injured 60.

The accident led to the spillage of 100 tons of the carcinogens benzene and nitrobenzene into the Songhua River, one of China’s longest waterways and a source of water for millions of people.

News of his death came just after the central government warned that anyone involved in covering up the impact of the blast would be severely punished.—AFP