Stampede kills 8 students at Sichuan school
(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-26 11:06

Eight children were killed and another 45 injured in a trampling accident that happened Tuesday evening at a primary school in Tongjiang County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to a latest report from China News Service.

Five of the 45 injured students are still in critical condition and the rest out of danger, the sources added.

At around 8:00 Tuesday evening, after an evening class students swarmed into a staircase at the Guangna Town Central Primary School of Tongjiang County. Something happened and the ensuing panic trampling resulted in seven kids killed and another 37 injured.

According to a Huaxi Metropolis News description, lighting in the building went out suddenly when the evening class was over. "Ghosts!" Somebody shouted in the dark. The students rushed to the stairways in the dark and some tumbled and were trampled over.

According to a deputy head of the county surnamed Zhao, the five now still in critical condition were traumatized by squeezing and pressing. The others, who had parenchyma wounds, are hospitalized.

The school building was constructed in 2004. The school is about 20 kilometers from the county seat.

Cause of the accident is under investigation.

A similiar accident occurred in central China's Hunan Province two days ago, on October 24. In the stampede accident, 10 pupils were injured, including one seriously injured at the No 4 Primary School in Loudi City.

In the morning on Monday, many students rushed into the building from the playground at the bell for the fourth morning class, crashing into students who were going out for physical exercise class on the stairways.

Some students tumbled to the ground and 10 were injured. They were sent to a local  hospital.