Fifteen children were killed when a school bus crashed in China's eastern province of Jiangsu, state media reported today.
The bus rolled into a ditch as it veered off the road to avoid a pedicab, the Xinhua news agency said. At least eight children were also injured in the accident, which happened after school yesterday.
"Students became trapped at the bottom of the overturned bus and drowned as water gushed into the wreck," Xinhua reported, citing Zhang Bin, a deputy head of the Fengxian county, where the accident happened.
"The driver has been detained for investigation," said Mr Zhang.
Xinhua gave conflicting accounts on the number of children on board the bus but all the reports suggested the bus was not overloaded. Xinhua last reported that 29 were on board.
An outcry erupted across China in early November after 18 nursery school children were killed when a coal truck slammed into their overcrowded school van in northwestern China.
Also yesterday, a school bus carrying 59 children collided with a truck in Guangdong Province, in China's far south, injuring 37, media reported.
That crash and the one in Jiangsu are sure to amplify calls for more spending on education and children's safety. In 1993, the Chinese government vowed to dedicate 4 per cent of GDP to education.
"Close to 20 years have passed, and this has still not been achieved," said an editorial in the China Information News reported today. "For some local governments, the proportion of GDP spent on education has actually fallen."
Chinese microbloggers were quick to express their anger about the crash.
"Another school bus accident kills 15 children. It's just a number in the eyes of Chinese officials. The only thing they care about is whether it impacts their future career," wrote Huiji Flying on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblog.
"Nothing is safe in China apart from leaders' cars, houses, money and concubines," added Yiran Anki.
The November tragedy prompted Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to promise more government funds to provide improved school bus services.
Rural areas in China are notorious for unsafe transport for children, who face risky rides in aging, badly maintained vans and trucks.
The school bus crashes also reflect the growing trend in rural China for schools to be concentrated in larger towns, abandoning villages where the population has been shrinking. Children then have to travel long distances to school or board away from their families.