Overloaded Rural ‘School Bus’ Rolls Over Into Water, 11 Dead
by Peter Barefoot on Friday, January 4, 2013
From Sina:
Jiangxi School Bus Accident Driver was the Kindergarten’s Principal, Names of Injured & Dead Made Public
December 24 morning about 9, an accident happened in Jiangxi Guixi Binjiang County Hongtang Village Hepan Shitongjia Unit, in which a kindergarten minibus rolled over and fell into a pool of water. The 7-seat minibus was carrying 17 people, resulting in 11 children killed. This reporter learned through interviews at the scene that the school bus driver was the kindergarten principal.
As it is understood, the kindergarten involved in the accident is called Spring Bud Kindergarten, located in Binjiang County Jinfa Village Committee Pengjia Unit, with 4 classes and 126 students. Villager Xu Youzhen told this reporter that this minibus without any markings to indicate itself to be a school bus had ordinarily been driven by the kindergarten’s principal Peng Chune herself, picking up and transporting the children to and from school everyday at 9am and 5pm.
Although the vehicle was limited to only 7 seats, in order to save on costs, she had more than 10 children squeeze into the vehicle. Sobbing, Xu Youzhen told this reporter that the 4 children from the next village would’ve originally escaped the accident, but had gotten onto the minibus ahead of time just so they could get a seat.
As it turns out, every morning, kindergarten principal Peng Chune would drive a Changan minibus with license plate number “赣LP2689” to pick up children in Liuling Village for school. There were 4 children in Liuling Village—which is right next to the kindergarten—who attended this kindergarten. Originally, they were the nearest to the kindergarten, and could head out for school a little later, waiting until after the school bus was on its way back from picking up the children in the two other villages before getting aboard.
But every time the school bus arrived, it was packed with people and they could only be squeezed in to stand next to the vehicle’s door. The parents were unhappy about this and raised complaints to the kindergarten many times, “but the village only has one kindergarten, and in order to save on costs, the kindergarten resorted to overloading [the minibus].” For lack of a better option, the parents could only have their children get up early every day so they could get on the school bus first before kindergarten principal Peng Chune set off [to pick up the children in the other villages], as this way they could get a seat.
December 24 morning at 8am, these 4 children got on the school bus early as usual. When the school bus had finished picking up the other children from nearby villages and was on its way back to the kindergarten passing through Shitongjia Unit, misfortune struck. Because the vehicle was going a little too fast, the driver Peng Chune drove into a pile of sand in an effort to avoid a farming vehicle parked on the roadside, and then slid into a pond. 17 people on the minibus—the driver, a female teacher, and 15 children—all fell into the water with the vehicle.
“Because the 4 children from Liuling Village were sitting furthest inside, they were blocked in by the other children who got on later and couldn’t get out.” A parent who participated in the rescue on the scene named Tong Huibing had jumped out of bed and rushed to the scene the moment he heard that the school bus had an accident. “I saw that the body of the vehicle about to disappear into the water and immediately jumped into the water. At the time, there was only 10cm of the bus still above the surface of the water.
There was a female teacher dragging children out from the vehicle and I was desperately pulling them out.” In the 2 minute before the minibus was completely submerged, Tong Huibing and some other nearly residents dragged out 6 children from the water, including his own daughter Tong Beiying. “It was only because my daughter was the last one to get on the minibus that she could be rescued. There was nothing we could do to save the children who were crammed inside.” Through the joint rescue efforts of the nearby villagers, 1 driver, 1 female teacher, and 4 children narrowly and luckily escaped.
Casualty list of the 12.24 Minibus Rollover Into Pool Incident
Died instantly at the scene:
Tong Yuxiang, male, age 4, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Peng Bingyu, male, age 4, Liuling Village Committee.
Hu Simin, female, age 4, Liuling Village Committee.
Luo Qinxin, female, age 4, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Tong Qianlong, male, age 6, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Tong Fangqiang, male, age 6, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Tong Chenxi, male, age 6, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Hu Siqi, female, age 5, Liuling Village Committee.
Tong Quanbing male, age 5, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Tong Jiawei, male, age 4, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Lu Yu, male, age 5, Liuing Village Committee Zhanshan Unit.
Hospitalized in ICU:
Tong Yongjie, male, age 5, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Tong Guowei, male, age 5, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Tong Longhao male, age 6, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
Tong Beiying, female, age 4, Hepanshi Tongjia Unit.
A child’s school bag floats on the surface of the pool where the minibus rolled over and fell in.
December 24, rescuers using a water pump in their rescue efforts.
Dredging up the remaining items.
These are the fences set up at the scene where the accident happened.
Children injured in the accident receiving medical care at Guixi City People’s Hospital.
