Beijing, June 11 (IANS): Five people have been arrested for negligence for a fire at a warehouse in February, which left 17 people dead in south China's Guangdong province, the Huizhou city government said on Thursday.

Those arrested include the general manager of Yidong Yiwu Ltd. Co., which owns the market where the warehouse was located, and employees from Jinxuan Co. which managed the market, the city government said citing the investigation report.

Meng Hongbing, head of the fire department of Huidong county, was also removed from his post, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the report, the wholesale market had failed to identify fire hazards before the accident and its response to the fire was deemed "improper".

On February 5, a nine-year-old boy, who was playing with a cigarette lighter, started a fire at the warehouse on the fourth floor of the wholesale market. The incident caused economic losses of around 11.73 million yuan ($1.9 million).