South China explosion kills 2, injures 44

Investigators go through the site of an explosion outside a primary school in Lingchuan county in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday Sept. 9, 2013. A three-wheeled truck caught fire and exploded killing at least two people and injuring 17, including 10 students, state media reported. Initial reports from the scene in the resort city of Guilin described the blast as an accident, although police declined to confirm that, saying only that an investigation was continuing. (Photo: AP)

Two people were killed and 44 injured Monday in an explosion near a school in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
A man and a woman were killed in the blast, and 39 are hospitalized for treatment, police with Guilin City said.
The injured mainly suffered burns and skin lacerations, said Luo Kepin, a doctor with the 181st Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, where the injured are being treated. As of Monday evening, two of the injured were in critical condition, Luo said.
The explosion struck at around 7:10 a.m. as students were arriving at Balijie Primary School in Lingchuan County in Guilin, said an official statement. Some classrooms were damaged in the explosion and classes have been suspended.
A stationery store owner surnamed Qin said she was assisting a student who wanted to buy a notebook as the explosion happened.
“The student asked me to get the notebook. I was just turning around when it exploded and window glass shattered everywhere,” Qin said.
A man surnamed Chang who suffered leg injuries was receiving treatment at the city’s No. 2 People’s Hospital. He said he took his daughter to school earlier than usual because of the school’s flag-raising ceremony on Monday morning.
“When I saw my daughter off to the school gate, the blast happened behind me,” he said. His daughter was not injured.
A student surnamed Zhou said the explosion happened when he and his classmates were on the way to school. He said he was too scared to go to school after the blast.
The primary school issued a notice suspending classes for one day in the wake of the explosion.
The Ministry of Public Security has dispatched a working team to Guilin. The Guilin authorities also set up an investigation team. Police in Guilin have begun a search for illegal explosives in the city.
Witnesses saw a man on a three-wheeled motorcycle pass the entrance to the school as the blast took place.
One body could be seen at the site, which was cordoned off by local police.
“First, the motorcycle caught fire and then exploded with a tremendous sound that could be heard from far, far away,” a witness told Xinhua.
Another witness surnamed Huang said the blast caused a strong shock which made her mistake it for an earthquake at the time.
Motorcycles were scattered around the blast site and the windows of nearby cars and stores were broken.
Guilin, a popular tourist city in Guangxi, is famous for its karst landscape scenery.
Further investigation is under way.
The Ministry of Education has ordered nationwide schools to step up security measures for the sake of students’ safety.
Zhou Keda, deputy director of the Institute of Sociology at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said it is a common challenge to schools around the world to maintain campus safety.
Schools should cooperate with relevant units to build a safe environment within and surrounding the campus, Zhou said.
Netizens also called for tightened safety supervision around schools to prevent recurrence of such a tragedy.