New Delhi, July 28 -- it is formally inviting the public to help explain what went wrong.

The central government's investigation team announced this week that it will accept written submissions and hotline contributions from anyone with relevant information about the July 6 breach, with a public submission window running until August 15. Eyewitnesses, local engineers, residents, and families of the victims can all participate - an opening that diverges from how China has historically managed post-disaster accountability, where findings have largely flowed inward through party structures rather than outward to the public.

The dam that failed sits in Hengzhou county, deep within the mountainous interior of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Re...