Death toll of Thursday’s blast in eastern China’s Jiangsu province rises to eight as police launch criminal investigation.
By Owen Churchill
The death toll in an explosion outside a kindergarten in eastern China’s Jiangsu province has risen to eight, state news agency Xinhua reported Friday.
Ongoing investigations by police have preliminarily ruled Thursday’s blast to be a criminal case, and have already identified a suspect or suspects, the report stated.
According to Party newspaper People’s Daily, two people were killed immediately in the blast, while another five died following unsuccessful resuscitation efforts. An eighth person later died from their injuries. The explosion also wounded 65 people, eight of whom sustained serious injuries.
The blast occurred at approximately 4:50 p.m. on Thursday afternoon outside the main gate of Chuangxin Kindergarten in Feng County, around 120 kilometers northwest of the city of Xuzhou. Photographs and video footage uploaded on social media shortly afterward showed a number of people — some covered in blood — lying in the street outside the kindergarten. The People’s Daily later reported that no staff or children at Chuangxin Kindergarten were among the casualties.
On Thursday evening, Jiangsu province’s internet safety and protection police announced on their official Weibo microblog that another video of an explosion circulating on social media was not from Thursday’s blast, as had been claimed. “Do not create rumors, believe rumors, or spread rumors,” the notice said. “Let us pray together for the injured.”
Contributions: Yin Yijun.
(Header image: Yan Wenqing/VCG)
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