(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-15 23:43

YICHANG - A mayor in central China's Hubei Province was held fully responsible by police for killing a boy in a highway car accident, local police said on Tuesday.

The accident occurred at about 7:20 a.m. on March 17, when Fan Xiaolan, mayor of Dangyang City, drove a Toyota Prado and hit and killed an 11-year-old student at Chuanxin Primary School on the highway linking Yichang and Dangyang.

"Investigations showed that she was driving at 60 kilometers per hour. She didn't slow down at the road section near Chuanxin School," said Wang Shenghua, a police officer with the Dangyang Police Bureau.

Yang Yuanzhong, a local government official, said that Fan, who has a driver's licence, hurried home from a business in Yichang, because her child felt ill. Her driver was occupied with emergency family matters that day, and could not drive her home.

According to regulations, officials shall not drive government vehicles without permission.

Fan left her post on April 12, after taking a discipline inquiry. Xu Jianguo, a lawyer with the Beijing Yipai Law Office said that Fan might face up to three-year imprisonment for such a traffic accident.

Fan immediately reported the accident to police who arrived at 7:25 a.m., said Wang Genhua, spokesman of the Communist Party of China discipline inspection committee of Yichang city.

"She cooperated with the police and sincerely apologized to the family of the victim," Wang said, without giving further details.

Media reports said that Fan offered to provide 220,000 yuan (US$ 28,571) in compensation to the victim's family after the accident.