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Eleven government officials including the Party chief and director of Huangpu District were sacked or demoted over the Bund stampede on New Year's Eve that left 36 people dead and another 49 injured.

Zhou Wei, Party chief of Huangpu, was sacked along with his deputy Peng Song, also the district’s director, for failing to properly respond to the emergency, according to the Shanghai municipal government.

Zhou Zheng, deputy district director and Huangpu's public security chief, and Chen Qi, deputy police chief of the district, were also removed from their posts, a joint investigation team of government officials, lawmakers and public security experts announced at a press conference this morning.

Seven other officials in tourism, public security and urban management received disciplinary punishments.

“The Huangpu District government should take responsibility for the incident,” said Xiong Xinguang, director of the city’s emergency response office.

The deadly stampede happened at 11:35pm on December 31, when people assembled at Chenyi Square on the Bund to celebrate the arrival of 2015.

The Huangpu government was blamed for a lack of public security awareness that lead to the heavy casualties, the investigation team’s report said. The district government was also blamed for inadequately preparing for the event and poor on-site management.

The report said the security staff at the event was insufficient with only about 350 police officers, 100 armed police and 108 police assistants deployed in the area.

Zhou Bo, vice mayor of Shanghai, expressed deep condolences and apologized to stampede victims and their families on behalf of the municipal government at the press conference.

“The tragedy should never have happened and could have been prevented,” said Zhou.