Fan Qi, schoolmaster of the No. 2 Middle School of Fengzhen City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has been jailed for three years for negligence which led to the deaths of students under his care.

The Intermediate People's Court of Ulanqab League also sentenced Yi Yu, director of the office of general services of the school, on the same charge to three years in jail, with a three-year reprieve.

The court found that Fan Qi presided over a school meeting on Sept. 19, 2002, in which it was decided to add an after-school course between 6:15 p.m. and 6:55 p.m. every day. The decision became effective from Sept. 23.

At that time, all the lamps in corridors and along the stairs of the school building were damaged and did not work.

Liu Wuhong, a teacher in the school, reported the damaged lamps to Fan, but no action was taken.

In the darkness, nearly 100 students were hurrying home after finishing their courses, when they crowded on to the stairs near the ground floor, causing the guardrail to collapse at 6:50 p.m. on Sept. 23, 2002. Twenty-one students were suffocated in the crush and 47 were injured.

The court ruled that Fan and Yi were responsible for the accident since they failed to act to repair the lamps and make safety inspections inside the school building. They were also accused of failing to ensure students left the school building safely.

Fan and Yi were jailed in accordance with relevant stipulations of the criminal law of China, court sources said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2003)