Police in Southwest China's Sichuan Province confirmed on Monday that political commentator Zhang Ping's father and two younger brothers were being investigated after the family caused a forest fire while honoring ancestors on Saturday afternoon.

Zhang, who currently lives in Germany, told the Associate Press on Monday that his two younger brothers and a younger sister were detained after they returned to the southwestern town of Duofu in Sichuan to celebrate their father's birthday on Sunday and to pay their respects at the tombs of their ancestors.

The family of over 10 people burned joss sticks and paper in honor of their ancestors in Zhang's hometown of Xichong county, Sichuan Province, causing a fire, provincial local police said on their official soical media account on Sina Weibo late Monday evening.

The fire, which razed some 2.7 hectares, was put out by firefighters and locals after over an hour, the police added.

Zhang, also known by his pen name Chang Ping, writes commentaries in a column on the website of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle regularly, according to the Associated Press.

Global Times