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China Kindergarten Explosion Reportedly Kills at Least 7 Explosion at China Kindergarten Kills at Least 7 and Wounds Dozens
(about 3 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 eastern China killed at least seven people and injured nearly 70 on Thursday, leaving a bloodied and chaotic scene as dozens, some clutching children, were thrown to the ground.
CCTV, the state broadcaster, reported that two people had died at the scene and that five had died at the hospital. Images of dazed and injured people outside the Chuangxin kindergarten on the outskirts of Xuzhou, a large city in the province of Jiangsu, circulated on Chinese social media. One video showed what appeared to be doctors trying to revive a toddler covered in blood.
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.
In a video posted on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, a man yelled, “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. Local news reports described it as a possible gas tank explosion. By Thursday evening, the Feng County government in Xuzhou said 66 people had been hurt, including nine with serious injuries, in addition to the seven killed. Some local news reports described the cause as a possible gas tank explosion, but the police urged the public not to jump to conclusions.
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. It remains uncertain whether any of the dead or injured were from the kindergarten, a brightly painted building near housing built for poor residents. Officials suggested that none of the casualties were from the kindergarten itself.
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. “According to an initial check, the kindergarten was in class, and there were no casualties among its teachers and pupils,” the Feng County authorities said online.
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. The timing of the explosion intensified worries about whether any children from the kindergarten had been affected. It happened shortly before 5 p.m., when parents and other relatives appeared to have gathered at the entrance, waiting for children to go home for the day. It is possible that the parents and grandparents who had gathered to pick up the children had toddlers with them.
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. A reporter for People’s Daily, an official newspaper, visited one hospital that took in people injured outside the kindergarten, and it said online that they were “all older people in their fifties and sixties who were waiting to pick up children.”
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 also 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.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. 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 had 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.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. Deranged residents have also attacked schools, but officials made no suggestion that this explosion was deliberate and asked people to wait for the results of a full investigation.
This year, China’s premier, Li Keqiang, addressed public worries about school safety, promising 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.“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.