2 students dead, 20-plus injured in China school stampede

BEIJING – Two students died and more than 20 others were injured Wednesday in a stampede during a morning bathroom break at an elementary school in central China, government officials said.

The Puyang county government in Henan province said in a brief notice that the incident is under investigation. A county official reach by phone confirmed the deaths and injuries but declined to give other details.

Overcrowding and poor building design and construction have been blamed for past crushing deaths and injuries at Chinese schools. Other safety problems have included the use of running tracks made from scrap that sickened students with their noxious fumes.

China’s deadliest stampede in recent years occurred during new year festivities on Jan. 1, 2015, when 36 people died in a crush along Shanghai’s riverfront esplanade.