China's Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday urged police to learn from a fatal bus crash in northeast China and launch safety inspections of school buses.

 

Eight children were killed when a bus carrying 50 students veered off a bridge and plunged into a frozen river last Tuesday in Zhoujia township of Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. Thirty-nine others were injured.

 

In a circular issued by the ministry, local police bureaus were required to launch immediate examinations of all vehicles and drivers involved in school transport.

 

All vehicles and drivers must be registered with the local education authorities, and those with potential safety risks must be removed from service immediately, according to the circular.

 

Vehicles in service must bear identical signs, and overloading, excessive speeding and drink-driving or driving with fatigue will incur penalties.

 

Provincial and city-level police bureaus must dispatch inspection teams led by officials in public security and transportation departments.

 

Negligence in inspections would be punished, said the circular.

 

According to previous reports, the driver involved in the accident has been arrested, and an official with the local traffic police has been sacked and accused of negligence for ignoring public complaints about illegal operation of buses.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2006)