China: Schoolchildren killed in stairway stampede
Six children were killed and 11 injured in a stampede on a school stairwell in eastern China, it was reported today.
The stampede happened on Saturday night when hundreds of first-grade pupils at Tutang Middle School in Jiangxi province’s Duchang County swarmed out of their evening classes, the China Daily newspaper said.
Hundreds fell over each other in the stairwell between the first and second floors of the three-storey building, it said.
Five girls and one boy, aged between 12 and 13, died on their way to hospital, it said. Another 11 pupils were seriously injured.
The report said one pupil recalled seeing a classmate bending down to tie their shoelaces on the staircase just before the incident occurred.
The report said teachers climbed drainpipes on the outside of the building to get to the trapped children on the stairwell.
Most of the teachers had been on the first floor, marking papers, when the stampede occurred and many of the children were unsupervised, it said.
The school principal was detained by local authorities, the paper said.
