The State Environmental Protection Administration says a papermaking factory was suspended after causing pollution that a Heilongjiang Province village blamed for a high cancer rate among locals in recent years.

A total of 27 people died of cancer in Mingyue Village where the factory is located, the provincial Life Daily reported. Most lost their battle to stomach or esophagus cancer at ages between 30 and 50.

The village has more than 1,500 residents made up of about 400 families.

The incidence rate for the northeastern province was 199.8 per 100,000 people in 1993-97, the newspaper said, citing the latest report of the national tumor prevention and treatment authority.

In sharp contrast, the figure for the village in Tailai County worked out to 1,333 cases per 100,000 people, according to the report.

The papermaking factory is about 4 kilometers southeast of downtown Tailai. The county government ordered the factory to shut in late September, months after environmental officials took samples of drinking water in the village.

The evaluation reportedly has been kept secret from the villagers. Officials at the county Environmental Protection Bureau would only tell the locals that "it's high time that the village's water problem was solved," according to the newspaper.