BEIJING: Several students were injured on Tuesday (Nov 19) after a car crashed outside a primary school in central China’s Hunan province, state media said.
“Many schoolchildren were injured, the specific casualties are being investigated,” state broadcaster CCTV said.
State media did not say if the crash was deliberate.
Footage circulating on Chinese social media – which matched online images of the school – appeared to show the aftermath of the incident, with dozens of children running in panic away from the site of the crash.
In one clip, several people, including a young child, can be seen lying on the ground.
Another showed a bloodied man being beaten with sticks by passersby as he lay on the ground next to an SUV.
An eyewitness told local media that the incident happened at around 7.50am.
About eight to nine people were injured and they included both students and their parents, said the eyewitness, adding that all the victims have been taken to hospital.
The crash took place outside Yong’an primary school in the central city of Changde, home to over five million people.
It quickly became one of the most discussed social media topics, racking up over 95 million views on the Weibo platform by 11.10am.
Many users despaired at the occurrence of another grisly incident involving children.
“How can something like this be happening yet again?” wrote one user.
“There have been so many people taking their revenge on society recently,” lamented another.
A third commented: “These kinds of things have a copycat effect. It just takes one big event for others to learn from.”
Many initial videos of the incident already appeared to have been removed from China’s tightly controlled social media platforms.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-hunan-changde-yong-primary-school-children-injured-car-crash-investigations-ongoing-4756001
