Chinese media say a court in Shanghai has given long jail terms to four former city officials linked to a high-rise fire that killed 58 people in November.

The reports say the former director of construction in the city district where the fire took place was sentenced to 16 years for abuse of power and corruption. Three other officials received terms ranging up to 13-1/2 years.

The blaze is believed to have started when unlicensed welders accidentally set fire to a bamboo-and-nylon scaffold that was wrapped around the building. Investigators blamed illicit subcontracting, weak oversight and the use of flammable materials for the deaths.

The head of the State Administration of Work Safety said at the time that the fire was “completely avoidable.”

The deaths were a major embarrassment to the Shanghai city government, which had been basking in the glow of a highly successful World Expo that ended the previous month.