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A policeman at the site of a trampling incident in the Yucai Middle School in Xiangxiang, Hunan Province - Source: Reuters
Eight children died and 26 were injured in a stampede in a
school stairwell in central China, local media reported.
Students at the Yucai Middle School in Hunan province were leaving
their classrooms after evening study when one tripped, setting off
a deadly crush, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Students at the school in Xiangxiang city were crowding the stairs,
reluctant to step into heavy rain outside, state radio news
reported.
Officials there told Xinhua the dead included seven boys and a girl
aged from 11 to 14.
Of the 26 injured, five were seriously hurt, said the
report.
Thousands of people die in work, traffic and school accidents
across China every year.
But in a country where the government enforces a one-child
policy in cities, the deaths of children can unleash especially
volatile anger, often directed at officials.
Officials in Xiangxiang sought to quickly head off parental anger,
launching an investigation and dismissing the head of the city
education bureau, Xinhua reported.
While such accidents are often associated with poverty, the Yucai
middle school is privately owned and has 3,500 students, Xinhua
reported.
