Seven dead, 37 hurt in school stampede
A stampede on a stairwell at a primary school in south-west China, reportedly sparked by a child’s shouts of “ghost”, killed seven children and injured 37, reports said today.
The cause was under investigation, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
A local newspaper reported that the stampede in Tongjiang, a county in Sichuan province, started when someone yelled that there was a ghost in the darkened stairwell and the children started running, Chinese website Sina.com said. It cited the Huaxi Dushi Bao, or Western China City News.
The school was built last year and authorities told Xinhua they doubted there was a structural collapse.
Students were leaving their evening classes yesterday when the stampede occurred, Xinhua said.
Seven children died at the scene, it said. Of the 37 children who were injured, five suffered serious injuries and were being observed by hospital doctors, it said.
Tongjiang is 740 miles south-west of Beijing.
