BEIJING - China's top procuratorate is investigating whether dereliction of duty played a role in a deadly fire that claimed at least 120 lives in Northeast China's Jilin province yesterday.

The fire broke out at 6:06 a.m. Monday at a poultry processing workshop owned by the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company in Mishazi Township in the city of Dehui, located about 100 km northeast of the provincial capital of Changchun.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has sent procurators to the company to join staff from local agencies in investigating possible instances of dereliction of duty.