Principal to be prosecuted for school stampede
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A central China school principal and a relevant staff member would be prosecuted for a campus stampede that killed eight students and injured 26 others, local authorities said Monday.
Ye Jizhi, headmaster of Yucai Middle School in Xiangxiang City in central China's Hunan Province, and Peng Heliang, a school staff in charge of discipline, were directly responsible for the tragedy on Dec. 7. The Xiangxiang Procuratorate would institute a public prosecution against them Tuesday, said the city's publicity department.
Ye and Peng did not report the potential safety hazards timely, nor did they take effective measures to evacuate students out of stair exits in emergency, the department said.
The private school has 3,626 junior high students stuffed in 52 classrooms, averaging 70 in each class compared with the maximum 50 set by the local education bureau. The stair hall was narrow and the lighting was poor, procurators said.
The school has revamped safety rules by rescheduling classes to avoid rush hour crowds. Families of the eight killed students will each get about 350,000 yuan (51,200 U.S. dollars) in compensation, according to an agreement reached between the deprived parents and the school.
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