Kunming school stampede victims’ families protest, demand answers

Relatives of six children killed in a stampede at a school in Kunming, Yunnan Province staged a protest on Sunday, demanding that officials further explain the cause of the tragic incident and demanding severe punishment for those responsible.

About 100 people took to the streets and gathered in front of Mingtong Primary School in Kunming at around 8 am on Sunday, He Juan, father of one of the victims, told the Global Times.

Six students were killed and 26 injured, two severely, in a stampede at the primary school on Friday afternoon.

"The families demanded to meet senior school staff and students who witnessed the accident to find out the real cause of the stampede as they think the local authorities failed to give them a clear explanation," He said.

They raised a banner that read "The killers should be severely punished" as they marched across Kunming, a passerby, Liu Wenhua, told the Global Times.

Protesters held up funeral wreaths and the deceased children's photos placing them at the school gate, the witness said, adding that no conflict has occurred.

No school representative has come to meet with the protesters.

The Kunming government said on Sunday that the six children were crushed in a stampede caused by two foam mattresses that were left in a narrow corridor. Authorities said in a statement on Sunday that the mats blocked the corridor and caused some students to trip and fall to the floor, where they were trampled underfoot when the school's 600 students were returning to their classrooms after the noon break.

Eighteen of the 26 injured students have been discharged from the hospital and the two seriously injured children have been downgraded from intensive care, the publicity department of the Kunming government announced on Sunday.

The school has temporarily shut down and will reopen after the National Day holiday, people.com.cn reported Sunday.