[UPDATES] 12 people including ten Korean kids killed in nursery school bus fire in China

By Park Sae-jin Posted : May 9, 2017, 17:17 Updated : May 9, 2017, 22:39

[A screenshot captured from YTN news footage. ]


Eleven nursery school kids including ten Koreans and one Chinese were killed Tuesday when their school bus caught fire after a traffic accident inside a tunnel in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, the foreign ministry and news reports said.

The bus was carrying 13 people, including 11 children, a Chinese teacher, and the driver when it was engulfed in flames inside the tunnel in Weihai at around 9 am (local time), according to the South's foreign ministry.

The blaze killed the driver and the teacher was seriously injured and transferred to a nearby hospital, it said, blaming a traffic accident for igniting the fire.

Chinese police were conducting a DNA test for identification because the bodies were severely burned beyond recognition, the ministry said.

A photo posted on China's Weibo social media service showed the car in flames, Yonhap said, adding the bus was carrying the children, aged between four and seven, from Weihai to a kindergarten affiliated with an international school catering to the children of South Korean residents and students studying in China.

The kids were left helpless after being trapped in the bus because they could not open its door, Yonhap said. The bus reportedly smashed into a garbage vehicle but a rescue operation was hampered by chaos in the tunnel jammed with commuter vehicles.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com


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