Fifteen die as school bus lands in ditch

Workers at a nearby factory heard cries for help and rushed to the overturned bus, broke open the windows and began pulling children out.

At least 15 children died and eight others were injured, one of them seriously, said a spokesman for the Jiangsu provincial government. The official Xinhua News Agency said the bus was carrying 29 students and was designed for 52 people, so was not overloaded.

The accident occurred on Monday evening as the bus was travelling along a rural highway outside the city of Xuzhou in the province’s north. News reports said it careered off the road after swerving to avoid another vehicle.

Xinhua said the driver had been detained for investigation.

“My husband... used one hand to grab two or three (children) and the other to grab another two or three,” said Zhang Shengwei, whose husband Tian owns a nearby food processing factory.

“The water was not very deep, probably more than a metre or so, up to an adult’s waist, but it was deep enough to drown some of the children.

“We tried so hard and cracked open one of the windows and started to pull the kids out. It was freezing.”

The children ranged in age from six to about 14.

The crash came amid an national discussion over the poor condition of school buses and chronic underfunding of state schools, particularly in rural area.

On Monday, a school bus was hit by a truck in southern Guangdong province, injuring 37 of the 59 students on board. Police detained both drivers.

Last month, 19 children and two adults died when a nine-seat private kindergarten van packed with 62 students crashed head-on with a truck in north-west Gansu province.