Eight dead, 26 injured in central China school stampede

• Source: Xinhua
• [11:16 December 08 2009]
• Comments

People gather at the entrance of the privately-run Yucai Middle School in Xiangxiang, a small city in Xiangtan, central China's Hunan Province, Dec. 8, 2009. Eight teenagers were confirmed dead and 26 others injured in a trampling accident here on Monday evening.  (Xinhua Photo)

Police have detained the school principal and executive chairman of board, a man surnamed Ge, and frozen the school's bank account, a spokesman with Xiangxiang public security department said.

Early on Tuesday the Xiangxiang CPC committee removed the city's education chief Zhu Qinghua from his post and vowed to penalize all others who are held responsible for the accident.

Deputy education chief Liu Xiangping has temporarily taken charge of the school, and the local government of Xiangxiang is working on the compensation scheme.

The 12-year-old Yucai Middle School, a boarding school with 3,500 junior high students, covers 8 hectares. It has a reputation as one of the best schools in Xiangxiang, a county-level city with a population of 900,000.

While public schools offer junior high education for free, Yucai charges relatively high tuition fees, so most of its students are from well-off families in the city.