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Truck hits jogging students, killing 20
By Liu Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-15 06:08
It was just before dawn and a group of junior secondary school students were
jogging along the road on their morning exercises as they routinely did.
Accidents were rare along their route and the worst the town had ever
experienced was one in which two people were killed.
In a flash, it all changed yesterday as disaster struck literally.
The killer truck at
the accident site. [China Daily] |
A heavy-duty truck mowed into the group of students, killing 20. Thirty of
their classmates were injured, one seriously.
The scene was so gory that officials barred people from taking pictures till
the site was cleaned up.
The horrific accident happened at Guodao Township in Qinyuan County of North
China's Shanxi Province.
And a devastated town was left groping for answers, specially: How could this
have happened?
For one, the playground at Nanmiao Middle School was not big enough, said a
teacher, "so the students were asked to do their morning exercises outside, on
the road."
But it was not clear:
if the truck's headlights were on at the time (officials said the weather was
fair).
how the driver lost control of his vehicle.
whether he had dozed off.
why he did not stop the truck soon after he realized he hit something.
An official with the local traffic police department said the driver has been
detained, adding that he failed to stop the truck after hitting the first
student.
"I have never seen such a serious accident in the 10 years I have been
working," he told China Daily.
It is believed that the driver was exhausted after long hours of driving when
the accident happened.
The two-lane road has no divider and is used by motor vehicles, bicycles and
pedestrians.
The injured students have been rushed to hospitals in Qinyuan County and
neighbouring Changzhi city, where the truck was from.
Sources said that officials from the Shanxi Provincial Department of Public
Security and the Ministry of Public Security arrived at the site to investigate.
A three-paragraph report on the tragedy by Xinhua, carried on almost all
major news websites in the country, elicited grief and outrage from netizens.
Many blamed local education authorities for the tragedy.
"Where has all the educational funding gone? Why did rural children have to
do their morning exercises on a dangerous road?" asked a message on the popular
Sohu website.
Others complained about the news portals' brief coverage and lack of details
about the accident.
"Was the truck driving too fast? Was it overloaded? How did the accident
happen? I hope the media follows up," said a message on Netease.
The provincial educational authorities yesterday ordered all schools to stop
students from doing exercises along main streets or highways.
(China Daily 11/15/2005 page1)
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