RALEIGH — North Carolina's Supreme Court says health inspectors are not responsible for a deadly fire at a Hamlet chicken plant seven years ago.

Twenty-six people died in 1991 when the fire ripped through the Imperial Foods Plant. Some of the workers could not escape the blaze because doors had been locked to prevent theft of the chickens.

The court ruled inspectors cannot be sued.

People who survived the fire had claimed the state regulators failed to inspect the plant properly.