The Deadly School Stampede: China’s Annual Tragedy

It might seem like an unlikely occurrence, but for some reason deadly school stampedes have become all too commonplace in China. The most recent was at a Yunnan primary school in September, but it’s merely the latest in a long line of tragedies.

Six kids died In the Yunnan case, with another 22 injured in the stampede. As reported by Xinhua, children between the ages of seven and nine were playing with two mattress in a stairwell when some of them became trapped underneath the mattresses. When other students were let out of class and filled the stairwell, they trampled over the children who were crushed underfoot.

While the term “stampede” may bring to mind the Love Parade disaster or the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, UK, China retains the distinction of having the deadliest stampede in human history. On June 6, 1941, between 1,000 and 4,000 Chongqing residents died in a stampede triggered by the Japanese bombing of the city.

While stampedes tend to happen in situations involving huge migrations of people during things like religious pilgrimages, music festivals or sporting events, stampedes have a tendency to occur in Chinese schools.

Just take a look at this harrowing list:

• In February 2013, four elementary schoolchildren died and seven were injured in a stampede that happened when students in a stairwell kept pushing against a locked gate in Xiangyang, Hubei. The children were described as being “overly excited”.
• In November 2012, five students passed out and 17 were injured in a stampede during an earthquake drill at an elementary school in Lingao, Hainan.
• In November 2010, 123 children were rushed to hospital after a stampede in a stairwell at an elementary school in Aksu, Xinjiang. In the end, 41 students were injured and one was in critical condition. The stampede began when a girl named “Madina” lost her shoe and stopped to look for it, but the other children kept moving.
• In March 2010, one girl was killed and three injured at a primary school in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Hundreds of students were trying to reach a single room at the end of a 1.5 meter-wide corridor when one of them tripped.
• In December 2009, eight students died and 26 were injured in a stampede at a middle school in Xiangyang, Hunan. The cause is unclear, but it‘s reported at the time up to 2,500 students tried to exit a single narrow stairwell in a four-story building that is only 1.2 meters wide. A witness said the tangle of bodies went up the span of the stairwell for three floors.

• In August 2007, 17 boys were injured at a primary school bathroom in Qujing, Yunnan when one boy shouted that his shoe had fallen into a toilet.
• In November 2006, six students died and 39 others were injured in a stampede in a stairwell at a middle school in Duchang, Jiangxi. A witness said a student had stopped at the bottom of the stairwell to tie his shoelaces.
• In October 2005, up to 12 students died in a stampede with another 45 injured at a school in Tongjiang, Sichuan. Right before the stampede a blackout occurred in which a government official said “some students were joking about ghosts which scared the others into running.”
• Also in October 2005, ten students were injured in a stampede at an elementary school in Loudi, Hubei. Students rushing into the school had run into students running outside for physical exercise.
• Again in October 2005, a male student died and 64 others were injured from a stampede in Aksu, Urumqi. A guard rail had collapsed on the staircase when the students were rushing outside to a flag-raising ceremony.
•  In October 2004, one student died and 25 others were injured when a stampede occurred at a primary and middle school in Xuan’en, Hubei. The cause of the incident was suspected to be someone falling down.
• In September 2002, 21 students died and 47 were injured in a stampede at a middle school in Fengzhen, Inner Mongolia. A railing had collapsed as hundreds of students funneled down a darkened staircase after evening classes during a power blackout. Most of the dead suffocated under the bodies of their classmates.

Some people blame the education system for the almost annual tragedies. Middle school teacher and blogger Zhang Xiaojun said campus safety runs a distant second to academic achievement:

The school’s end-all, be-all is quality of education, which is to say, exam scores. Teachers and students consider scores as something as important as life itself and everything else is secondary.

 

Other experts blame school stampedes on poor facilities and supervision. Retired professor Zhang Yutang said many schools’ stairways are too narrow and not fitted with anti-slip flooring, and that stairwells require teachers supervision to “keep order”.

Meanwhile, an unidentified ministry spokesman was quoted by the People’s Daily as saying, “These incidents are avoidable if people stick to our documents and requirements.”

A 2007 joint study by the ministries of education and public security stated that roughly 16,000 children die in accidents and “abnormal circumstances” every year. The final report states about 80 percent of these deaths are “preventable”.

Without any push for change, it’s expected that more Chinese children will die from stampedes in the future.

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Photos: Foshan Daily