Smoke is seen billowing from an industrial park in Xiangshui county, East China’s Jiangsu Province on Friday, 16 hours after an explosion at a chemical factory. Photo: IC

Police in east China's Jiangsu Province said Friday they had taken criminal coercive measures against 44 people for their roles in a chemical plant explosion that killed 78 people in March.

A total of 61 public servants from the local environmental protection administrations and emergency management departments were also held accountable for their alleged violations of discipline and law, or dereliction of duty in the accident, according to the provincial discipline inspection and supervision departments.

The 44 under criminal coercive measures, including the company controller Ni Chengliang and the general manager Zhang Qinyue of Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Co., have been investigated by police.

In China, criminal coercive measures may include summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention or arrest.

The explosion happened on March 21 after a fire broke out in a chemical industrial park in Xiangshui County of Yancheng City.

Seventy-eight people were killed and hundreds more injured in the blast.