Eight more people and three companies as co-defendants stood for trial yesterday over the skyscraper fire of China Central Television's brand new headquarters in 2009.

The CCTV building, housing the new Mandarin Oriental hotel, was set ablaze by fireworks during an internal celebration by CCTV staff in February. The illegal fireworks plus substandard building materials were blamed for the fire, which killed a fire department lieutenant and destroyed the side building.

Scores of people including CCTV officials, fireworks company staff, engineering staff and senior executives of building material sellers were taken into custody as suspects immediately after the tragedy. Twenty received penalties in May ranging from three to seven years of imprisonment.

The defendants in yesterday's trial are mainly engineering staff and building-material suppliers.

They are accused of producing or selling shoddy fireproof products in the CCTV headquarters project and face sentences up to life imprisonment, according to China's criminal law.