Collapsing staircase kills 21 Chinese students

At least 21 students were killed and 47 more injured after a staircase collapsed in a middle school in China.

The incident happened yesterday in Fengzhen, a city in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China, the Xinhua news agency said.

A rail along the stairs inside the building gave way while students poured out of classes at the end of the day.

The exact death toll remained unknown today because more students may have died en route to hospitals, said a duty officer at the Fengzhen Public Security Bureau.

She said students behind those hurt in the initial collapse did not see what happened and kept pushing forward.

“The dead children were lying there with open eyes and mouths. It looked really tragic and miserable,” said the officer.

Government officials and hundreds of armed police sealed off roads around the school and ordered local media not to report the accident, she said.