State Council expresses "great concern" over lightning tragedy

China's State Council expressed its great concern over the lightning tragedy at a village school in southwest China in a statement released on Friday.

Seven children were killed and 39 were injured on Wednesday afternoon when lightning struck their three-room school house in the village of Xingye, more than 300 km from downtown Chongqing Municipality.

After the tragedy, officials from Chongqing Municipality reacted promptly to "treat the injured students, safeguard villagers from danger and maintain social stability", said the statement.

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) dispatched a work team to the site on Thursday.

"The school is located at an elevated point which is prone to lightning strikes," said a local meteorological expert after preliminary investigations.

When the lightning struck the school, the village was experiencing a severe thunderstorm in which the electric current was three times stronger than average, the expert said.

"Yihe Township, where the Xingye Village is located, has suffered from frequent lightning strikes in the past," he added.

Figures from the CMA show that 19,982 accidents involving lightning strikes occurred in 2006 across the country, claiming 717 lives and injuring 640 people.

Source: Xinhua