15 indicted for building collapse in Sept. 21 quake.

TAIPEI, Oct. 28 Kyodo

Fifteen architects and construction company executives have been indicted over the collapse of an apartment building outside Taipei that killed 45 people in last month's devastating earthquake, according to reports Thursday.

Among those accused was Lin Hsin-yi, co-owner of a local construction company, who was charged Wednesday with manslaughter, forging documents and illegally leasing construction permits, the China Times Express reported.

Prosecutor Cheng Ming-hsiang said he will seek a prison sentence of up to seven years for Lin and terms ranging from four to six years for the others, the report said.

All the charges stem from the involvement of the accused in the collapse of the 12-story apartment building in Hsinchuang, about 12 kilometers southeast of Taipei.

As part of his investigation, Cheng sought the expertise of Lin Li-guo, an associate professor at the Taipei University of Technology's Department of Engineering, who inspected the toppled building, the report said.

Lin said he detected 16 serious flaws in the building's structure including varying quality of reinforcing steel, inadequate strength of reinforced concrete foundations and poor construction of the building's main support columns.

Forty-five people were killed in the initial collapse and resulting fire.

Wednesday's action is the first indictment of construction executives and architects since the Sept. 21 quake, which killed more than 2,400 people and toppled more than 8,000 buildings believed to have been constructed to standards well below those set by the government.

Since the quake, the government has launched an all-out effort to track down those responsible for the shoddy construction of the toppled buildings.