An inquiry is under way in eastern China into the deaths of up to 60 people, mostly children, in an explosion in a suspected underground fireworks factory in a village school.
The blast happened when children, some as young as eight, were making fireworks in the two-storey school building in Fanglin village, in Jiangxi Province.
Villagers were reported to have used spades and their bare hands to free injured children trapped under beams and bricks. They were joined by hundreds of police and firemen.
One report suggested the fireworks were part of an illegal operation organised by the head teacher.
The explosion occurred at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday but details emerged only early yesterday. Children had been putting fuses into the firecrackers at the time. It is understood they were finishing a huge order for a major festival in April.
Third-grade pupils in a classroom on the first floor took the brunt of the blast. Only three of the 45 were reported to have survived the explosion.
The father of a nine-year-old who was killed, Mr Ding Mingxing, said he rushed to the scene after the explosions blew out the windows of his home 100 yards away.
"As soon as I heard a cry I went towards it. When I saw a leg or an arm sticking out I went after it. I rescued four kids, three boys and a girl, but I could not find my son," he said. Soldiers pulled out the body of his son six hours after the explosion.
"They didn't pay the kids anything. The parents complained many times to the school," he said.
Mr Ding believes the school was rushing the children to finish orders for the Qingming Festival, or Grave-Sweeping Festival, on April 5th.
Villagers said the local authorities had offered each family 30,000 yuan (£4255) compensation for each child, but that an official from the township government was chased away from the scene by angry relatives.
Foreign journalists yesterday were refused permission to go to the area.