21 students die in Chinese school accident

Asian Economic News, Sept 30, 2002

BEIJING, Sept. 24 Kyodo

Twenty-one middle school students were killed when a guardrail collapsed along stairs inside a northern China middle school, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

Another 47 students were hospitalized after the failure of the guardrail as they were filing out of class at 6:50 p.m. Monday in Fengzhen City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said the report, which did not provide any further details on the accident.

More than 260 medical workers and 12 ambulances rushed to the scene, where investigative teams are now trying to determine the cause of the accident, Xinhua said.