Photo taken on July 26, 2013 shows the accident site at the Lianhe Senior Nursing Home where a fire took place in Hailun City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Eleven people were killed in the fire that occurred early Friday. A total of 283 elderly people were living in the nursing home, which was built in October 2005. With an area of 7,000 square meters, it caters for the rural elderly in the city who have no source of income. Photo: Xinhua

Several officials from the Hailun Civil Affairs Bureau in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province were removed from their positions after a fire in a nursing home killed 11 and injured two on Friday.

The bureau's director Wang Wenhe and Zhang Shoulin, a vice director of the bureau, were removed from their posts.

Meanwhile, Li Kezhi, the president of the Lianhe Senior Nursing Home in Hailun and Li Yan, a vice president of the nursing home, were also removed, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Police have confirmed that a deadly fire which killed 11 people at the nursing home on Friday morning was caused by arson.

According to a news release from the local government, the arsonist is 45-year-old local resident Wang Gui, who lit the fire after a dispute with his neighbors whom he believed had stolen 200 yuan from him on Thursday.

The fire started at 1:15 am Friday at a 300-square-meter inpatient building at the nursing home. The fire was extinguished an hour later after it killed 11 people including Wang himself. Two other people were injured.

Chen Jingyu, head of the publicity department of Hailun, told the Global Times that police had confirmed that the 10 other victims of the fire were residents who shared a building with Wang.

Prior to the fire, there were 283 people, mostly elderly residents, living at the facility.