Twenty students and one teacher were confirmed dead and another
16 injured in a highway accident that occurred in Qinyuan County,
north China's Shanxi Province, on Monday, according to local
traffic police this morning.
At around 6 AM yesterday, a heavy-duty truck with a trailer
veered to one side on a village highway after running into a group
of students and teachers jogging on the road, said Nan Xinyan, a
county traffic police official.
Eighteen were killed on the spot and three others died later in
hospital. Another 16 are still hospitalized, said Nan, adding that
further investigations into the cause of the accident are
ongoing.
The province's education authorities have since issued orders
preventing students jogging or doing exercise on streets or
highways and demanded safety inspections of all schools.
Today's China Daily reported that the ministries of
public security and education have dispatched officials to the
county to investigate the case.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily November 15, 2005)
