FUZHOU, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authorities are investigating four anaesthesia-related deaths at a Sanming City hospital in the eastern Fujian Province.

    The patients had operations for different diseases and died at the No. 2 Hospital of Sanming between Sept. 3 and Oct. 11. The victims, three males and a female, had all undergone surgical anaesthesia.

    The three males were identified as 26-year-old Feng Guangle, three-year-old Zou Zhengtao and 29-year-old Jiang Chenfeng. The woman was Zhang Chunmei, 44, a hospital spokesman told Xinhua on Tuesday.

    The hospital is in Yong'an, a small city under Sanming's jurisdiction.

    The spokesman said the heartbeat and breathing of the three males stopped when they had surgical anaesthesia during their operations.

    Feng received an operation on Sept. 3 and died 23 days later after continuous treatment. Zou underwent surgery on Sept. 24 and died seven hours later. Jiang's operation was on Oct. 10 and he died in the early morning of the next day.

    The female patient also had surgical anaesthesia in her Sept. 18 operation. Her heartbeat and breathing stopped after the operation and she died eight days later.

    Initial investigations by a panel of experts, organized by Sanming health and drug authorities, suggested the first two deaths were anesthesia accidents. The third was an accident during the period surrounding the surgical procedure.

    Another expert panel dispatched by the provincial health department concluded the fourth death was also an anesthesia accident.

    Experts dispatched by the Ministry of Health had arrived in the city to join in the investigation.

    Experts summoned by the provincial and municipal authorities took part in the emergency treatment to Jiang when he was in critical condition on Oct. 10.

    The experts said they could not explained why Jiang died as his anaesthesia accorded with standard procedures.