HARBIN, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Twenty people have been charged with criminal offenses or are facing charges for a deadly hotel fire that killed 20 people in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, investigators said Friday.

A hotel caught a deadly fire that killed 20 people in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, on Aug. 25, 2018. (Photo: VCG)

They include Li Yanbin, the de facto controller of the Beilong Hot Spring Leisure Hotel in Harbin, the provincial capital, and Zhang Weiping, the hotel's legal representative, according to a report issued by the provincial emergency management bureau.

Both people have been arrested and each will face a fine of 175,079 yuan (about $25,746).

Investigators found that a fan that short-circuited set nearby plastic ornaments on fire at the hotel on Aug. 25, and fire control at the hotel had been chaotic since its opening.