What’s new: Five students and six parents were killed when a bus rammed into a crowd near a middle school in East China’s Shandong province on Tuesday morning, local police announced.
The 7:27 a.m. incident injured another 13 people, one of whom is in a critical condition, according to a statement from the Dongping County Public Security Bureau.
The vehicle, operated by a third-party bus company, “lost control” during the incident, the police statement said. The driver has been taken into police custody and the cause of the deadly crash is under investigation, police added.
What’s more: Videos and photos circulating online showed the incident occurred near the entrance of Foshan Middle School of Dongping. The bus had the name “Dongping County Dongyuan Public Transportation Co. Ltd.” (Dongping Dongyuan) printed on the side, with a passenger limit of 52.
Foshan Middle School, established in 2003, had nearly 3,000 students in July 2022, according to an article from the school’s official social media account. Its fall semester this year had just kicked off on Monday.
The Dongping county government told Caixin that local officials were at the scene to handle the matter. A staff member of Dongping Dongyuan said the company’s leaders are also on site, adding that the traffic police had inspected the company’s offices after the incident.
Dongping county is under the administration of the city of Tai’an.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
