Tragic Fire at Chinese School Claims the Lives of at Least 13 Students

The victims were identified as third-grade students from an elementary school in Henan province, according to reports.
A devastating fire tore through a dormitory at a boarding school in central China, claiming the lives of 13 students, as reported by state media.
Yingcai School in Henan province’s Yanshanpu village was the site of the blaze, with one student being injured, according to Xinhua news agency.
The victims were all third-grade elementary school students from the same class, aged nine and 10, as stated by a teacher to Hebei Daily, a state-run publication.
The fire, which started at 11pm (15:00 GMT) on Friday, was quickly extinguished by firefighters. The head of the school was taken into custody for questioning as the cause of the fire is being investigated.
The surviving injured student is currently being treated in the hospital and is in stable condition, as reported by Xinhua.
China National Radio reported the presence of smashed windows at the school’s dormitory building and published photos of police cordoning off nearby areas.
Yanshanpu village is situated on the outskirts of Nanyang, a city with a population of nearly 10 million.
There is minimal public information available about the boarding school, although videos on social media showed young children wearing the school’s logo on their smocks, as well as older children learning calligraphy.
The news outlet The Paper, backed by the Shanghai government, reported that students at Yingcai School are given a break every two weeks, except for this particular weekend.
Many students at Yingcai School hail from rural areas, according to The Paper.
Outcry on social media
In the wake of the tragic fire, Chinese social media users expressed their outrage and called for accountability for any safety negligence.
“It’s too scary, 13 children from 13 families, all gone in an instant … if there is no severe punishment their souls will not rest in peace,” wrote a commenter on the Weibo social media site.
China is no stranger to fires and other fatal accidents, often linked to lax safety regulations and insufficient enforcement.
In November, 26 people died and numerous others were hospitalized after a fire at a coal company office in northern China’s Shanxi province.
In July, 11 people died after the roof of a school gym collapsed in the country’s northeast.
In April, a hospital fire in Beijing claimed the lives of 29 people and forced desperate survivors to jump out of windows to escape.
After the coal company fire in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the country to “conduct in-depth investigations of hidden risks in key industries, improve emergency plans and prevention measures.” [Read More]