A stampede by more than 100
students in an elementary school in northwest China left seven children
severely injured and one in a coma, according to Chinese officials.
The stampede occurred at the No. 5
Elementary School in Aksu city when the students rushed down a staircase and
toward the playground after being released from class, China’s Xinhua News
Agency reported. As students tripped and fell on the staircase, many were
trapped beneath the stampede and trampled by their classmates.
Hou Hanmin, a spokesman for the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, told Agence France-Presse that one student
was in a coma after being hurt on the staircase. According to Xinhua, 41 students
were admitted to a hospital, although the AFP reported that the number of
injured was far higher, at about 100. No deaths were reported.
Xinhua said an investigation is
under way into the stampede. Last year, a series of seemingly random stabbing
attacks in schools across the country left dozens of children dead or injured.
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