BEIJING, Dec 26: Twelve Chinese officials, including a vice mayor, were suspended today over the death of 11 children, who drowned after the van driven by the woman principal of their kindergarten fell into a pond two days ago.
The private school van carrying 15 children had plunged into a roadside pond in a rural area of Guixi City in eastern China’s Jiangxi Province on Monday.
A total of 12 officials, including the vice mayor of Guixi and Directors of the education and transportation bureaus, were suspended from work after the accident.
A thorough inspection of all school buses in the province has been launched in an effort to prevent similar accidents, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Police has detained the van’s driver, who is also the principal of the kindergarten, for questioning.
She told the state television that she stepped on the accelerator of the van after it got stuck in a ditch. In the process, she lost control and drove the over-crowded vehicle right into the pond located on the side of the road.
Overcrowding on Chinese school buses is common in rural areas. Monday’s accident was the latest in a string of deadly crashes in China involving school children.
Last year, a small school van overloaded with 62 children crashed head-on with a truck in western China, claiming 19 lives. (PTI)
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