The amount of compensation for each student killed in tragic middle school stampede in Jiujiang, a city in east China's Jiangxi Province, rose to 212,000 yuan (about US$26,500) after parents of one dead student protested.

 

Apart from the compensation provided by the local government, the family of each dead student will receive 11,000 yuan (about US$1,375) from the insurance company, said an official in charge of civil affairs with Duchang County, which falls under the jurisdiction of Jiujiang City.

 

Earlier reports claimed families of the six first-graders trampled to death in stampede would be compensated 190,238 yuan (about US$23,780) each.

 

The increased compensation is due to the efforts of the parents of Duan Mengtao from Huangmei, a county on the other side of the Yangtze River where living standards are higher than in Duchang. Duan's parents campaigned vigorously for higher compensation.

 

All six students killed in the stampede have now been buried.

 

Hundreds of first-graders at Tutang Middle School in Duchang County swarmed out of their evening classes and onto the stairway at 8:30 PM. When someone apparently fell on the landing connecting the first and second floors of the three-storey building, a stampede occurred, with more than 100 students falling over one other as their momentum carried them forward.

 

Altogether six first-graders, including one girl, were trampled to death and 39 more injured in the stampede.

 

No one could recall exactly what had happened moments before or after the stampede.

 

"I can only remember I fell in the stairway after the evening class and I was at the hospital when I regained consciousness," said Wang Zhiqiang from Class 2 of the first grade.

 

Wang Minxu, another first-grader, recalled it was very crowded and noisy. "I had difficulty breathing," said Wang, who added he escaped the heap of students by clinging to a teacher's leg.

 

It was teachers who first rushed to rescue the students. One teacher, Cao Yuanzhi, quickly climbed from the first floor to the second floor using the drainpipes on the outside of the building. The teachers helped the students up one by one, said one witness.

 

Workers at the school have replaced sound-sensor illumination over the landing between the first and second floors with switch-controlled lights.

 

By Wednesday, 18 students remained in hospital with various injuries to the lungs, abdomen and eyes.

 

After the incident, the provincial government Wednesday sent 10 teams to carry out safety check-ups in local schools in Jiangxi.

 

One of the 10 investigation teams will go to Tutang Middle School to probe the exact cause of the trampling accident, according to government sources.

 

The investigators, consisting of officials and experts from the provincial departments of education, public security, health, culture, communication, judiciary, safety supervision and press administration, will make on-the-spot investigations in primary and middle schools in the province's 11 major cities until November 28, the sources said.

 

The investigators will check the safety of school buildings, examine teachers' qualifications, see whether education fees are used properly, and whether schools have recruited too many students.

 

They will interview students and teachers, view school records and make on-the-spot check-ups.

 

Schools that do not meet standards will be given a fixed period in which to carry out necessary improvements, according to the sources.

 

The Chinese government will also tighten safety provisions in elementary and secondary schools.

 

Local education departments should conduct thorough inspections of corridors and stairways and check school buildings, canteens, dormitories and bathrooms, Education Minister Zhou Ji said Monday at a teleconference on school administration.

 

The ministry would evaluate the work of school principals, who play a key role in safety and have ultimate responsibility for safety, Zhou said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2006)