An inquiry is under way in eastern China into the deaths of up to 60 people, mostly children, in an explosion in a suspected underground fireworks factory in a village school.
The blast happened when children, some as young as eight, were making fireworks in the two-storey school building in Fanglin village, in Jiangxi Province.
One report suggested the fireworks were part of an illegal operation organised by the head teacher.
The explosion occurred at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday but details only emerged yesterday. The official Xinhua news agency claimed 41 people were killed and 30 injured but local people claim the number of dead is much higher.
Villagers claimed yesterday that teachers had been forcing the children to make the fireworks for the last three years. Children had been putting fuses into the firecrackers at the time of the blast. It is understood they were finishing a huge order for a major festival in April.
Third-grade pupils in a classroom on the first floor took the brunt of the blast. Only three of the 45 were reported to have survived the explosion.
The website of the state-controlled newspaper, the Nanfang Daily, claimed the children were making the fireworks for pocket money. The report said local firecracker plants have been cooperating with primary schools in getting pupils to make firecrackers since 1998, with school teachers sharing in profits.
The father of a nine-year-old who was killed, Mr Ding Mingxing, said he rushed to the scene after the explosions blew out the windows of his home 100 yards away.
"As soon as I heard a cry I went toward it. When I saw a leg or an arm sticking out I went after it. I rescued four kids, three boys and a girl, but I could not find my son," he said. Soldiers pulled out the body of his son six hours after the explosion.
"They didn't pay the kids anything. The parents complained many times to the school and the township government, but nothing happened."
Mr Ding said children were even fined a few mao (cents) if they refused to work. He believes the school was rushing the children to finish orders for the Qingming Festival, or Grave Sweeping Festival, on April 5th.
Villagers said the local authorities had offered each family 30,000 yuan ($3,600) compensation for each child, but that an official from the township government was chased away from the scene by angry relatives.
Foreign journalists were yesterday refused permission to go to the area. The Irish Times was referred by the Foreign Office to the Xinhua news agency.
A spokesman did confirm, however, that a three-way investigation was under way into the tragedy by the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Education and the State Safety Production Supervision Administration Bureau.
Tanbu hospital in Wanzai county said six adults had died, five teachers and an elderly man.
Villagers were reported to have used spades and their bare hands to free injured children trapped under beams and bricks. They were joined by hundreds of police and firemen.
State television showed harrowing pictures last night of rescue workers, including dozens of soldiers rooting through the rubble in a desperate bid to rescue the injured. Among the items they uncovered were schoolbooks with cartoon characters on the covers.
Villagers told a news agency reporter that the principal teacher established the fireworks business. They said the area was a haven for legal and illegal fireworks factories. The children were given firework duty during their breaks to make extra money for the school.
Last night a spokeswoman for the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong criticised the practice of children being forced to work in underground classroom enterprises. She said this was a huge problem in many rural parts of China.
A spokesman for the local police in Tanbu Township, which is a poor rural region 400 km north of Hong Kong, flatly denied the blast was caused by firecrackers.
However, an official at the Tanbu local government said later they had received complaints that the school was being used to assemble firecrackers. "Most probably it is because of firecrackers, but a final result will come out after investigators convene," a government spokesman in Wanzai County said.
More than 30 people were being treated in local hospitals for serious injuries.
The governor of Jiangxi Province, who was in Beijing, rushed back home to take charge of the investigation. There was no official comment on the blast in Beijing.