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November 13, 2009

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Schoolchildren killed as snow caves in canteens

THE death toll from the heavy snowstorms that have blanketed north China for days has risen to at least 13, including four children who were killed when two school canteens collapsed, emergency officials said yesterday.

The wicked weather has also shut down airports, closed highways and damaged crops across a wide swath of the north.

The worst casualties occurred at a canteen at the Longfeng Private Primary School in Hebei Province's Yongnian County. Accumulation from two days of snow caused the building to collapse at about 6pm on Wednesday while the students were dining, killing two girls and a boy and injuring 28 other children.

The government issued a notice on Wednesday night asking all middle and primary schools in the county to suspend classes for two days to check building safety.

In the provincial capital Shijiazhuang, one person was killed, 25 were injured and 68 greenhouses collapsed due to the snow. Two people died after a shop and a storehouse collapsed in nearby Handan City, officials said yesterday.

Another school canteen collapse in Henan Province killed one student and injured seven yesterday morning.

The accident happened at about 7:30am at the Xinyu Middle School in Kaifeng County when students were lining up for breakfast in a prefabricated steel-structure canteen, a county education bureau official said.

Five people have been killed and 36 injured in Shaanxi Province since a snowstorm hit the province on Monday. More than 1,200 houses collapsed and over 1,900 were damaged in the storm.

About 31,500 hectares of farmland were damaged, causing 437 million yuan (US$64 million) in losses, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

One person was killed in Shandong Province, where 17 houses and about 40,000 greenhouses collapsed. Some 2,400 hectares of farmland were damaged causing 250 million yuan in economic losses, an official said.

Snow continued to disrupt flights and road traffic yesterday.

The Taiyuan Airport in Shanxi Province was closed at 2:15am, and about 700 passengers were stranded at the facility.

The Hohhot Baita International Airport in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was closed on Wednesday night and yesterday morning, causing several flight delays.

Most highways in Shandong Province were closed since snow hit on Wednesday.





 

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