This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/world/asia/china-kindergarten-explosion.html

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
China Kindergarten Explosion Kills at Least 7, State Media Reports China Kindergarten Explosion Reportedly Kills at Least 7
(about 2 hours later)
NANJING, China — An explosion outside a kindergarten in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu killed at least seven people and injured more than 50 on Thursday, according to Chinese state news reports.NANJING, China — An explosion outside a kindergarten in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu killed at least seven people and injured more than 50 on Thursday, according to Chinese state news reports.
CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, reported that two people had died at the scene and that five had died at the hospital. CCTV, the state broadcaster, reported that two people had died at the scene and that five had died at the hospital.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the blast. Videos and photographs circulating on Chinese social media showed a chaotic scene outside the Chuangxin kindergarten on the outskirts of Xuzhou, a large city in Jiangsu Province. It was not immediately clear what had caused the blast. Videos and photographs circulating on Chinese social media showed a chaotic scene outside the Chuangxin kindergarten on the outskirts of Xuzhou, a large city in the province.
One video showed what appeared to be doctors trying to revive a toddler, who was covered in blood. Another showed adults and children lying on the street, apparently unconscious.One video showed what appeared to be doctors trying to revive a toddler, who was covered in blood. Another showed adults and children lying on the street, apparently unconscious.
In a video posted on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, a man yells, “Now they are carrying out dead bodies!” In a video posted on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, a man yelled, “Now they are carrying out dead bodies!”
State news reports said the explosion occurred shortly before 5 p.m. Reports by the local news media described it as a possible gas tank explosion. State news reports said the explosion occurred shortly before 5 p.m. Local news reports described it as a possible gas tank explosion.
Calls on Thursday evening to government offices in Xuzhou and to a hospital where victims were being treated went unanswered. The Fengxian county government said in a statement that it was investigating the cause of the explosion. The China News Service, a government news agency, said it was possible that none of the dead or injured were from the kindergarten. “According to an initial check, the kindergarten was in class, and there were no casualties among its teachers and pupils,” a brief report from the agency said.
Xuzhou is a gritty industrial city that lies at the intersection of China’s main rail lines leading south from Beijing with an important rail line from the east coast all the way to Central Asia. It is a big center in China for the manufacture of construction equipment and also has extensive military facilities because of its role as a rail hub. It was unclear what accounted for the discrepancy in dead and injured. It is possible that the parents and grandparents who had gathered to pick up the children had toddlers with them.
Calls on Thursday evening to government offices in Xuzhou and to a hospital where victims were being treated went unanswered. The local authorities said in a statement that they were investigating the cause of the explosion.
Xuzhou is an industrial city that lies at the intersection of China’s main rail lines leading south from Beijing with an important rail line from the east coast that runs to Central Asia. It is a large center for the manufacture of construction equipment and has extensive military facilities because of its role as a rail hub.
The blast appeared likely to provoke public anger and worry about safety around schools, including dangerous chemicals, fire hazards and explosive materials.
In 2001, Zhu Rongji, then the premier, apologized about an explosion at a rural schoolhouse in southeast China that killed 42 people, including 38 children. Mr. Zhu initially dismissed reports, which turned out to be true, that the children had been making fireworks.
Since then, safety around Chinese schools has generally improved. But the country’s feverish growth has created hazards. Food vendors often use portable gas tanks carried on bicycles and carts. In 2013, an explosion on a cycle killed two people outside a school in Guangxi region in southern China.
This year, China’s premier, Li Keqiang, addressed public worry about school safety, promising that the government would do better.
“Campus safety concerns the healthy development of millions of students and the happiness of their families,” Mr. Li said at a meeting in April of the State Council, China’s government cabinet.