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SCMP Reporter

A mad rush to the playground that turned into a stampede on the stairs of a primary school in Aksu , Xinjiang ,  left seven children severely injured yesterday.
In the latest of a string of school safety accidents, about 120 pupils fell on the stairs and were later rushed to the city's People's Hospital, a local government official said. Forty-one were admitted to hospital for treatment, six in critical condition and one in intensive care. 
The tragedy happened at the city's No 5 Primary School at around noon, when pupils rushed to the playground. 
'They are primary school  pupils and very naughty,' the official said. 'The crowd even made the handrails of the stairs change shape.' 
Photographs on a Xinjiang government-run news portal, wlmqwb.com, showed a ground- level handrail of the narrow staircase  almost flattened. 
A report on the portal said pupils were crushed and injured when they fell after the railing - which appeared to be made of thin iron bars - collapsed. 
An earlier Xinhua report said  pupils at the bottom of the stairs fell first, triggering the stampede.
The official said health authorities had exhausted all medical efforts in treating the victims, and some cases  were referred to senior medical experts via video conference. Xinjiang's health department  sent a team of brain and thoracic surgeons to Aksu to  help. 
The school, for members of the Uygur  ethnic minority, has more than 1,800  pupils. The ethnicity and age of the injured were not yet clear, the official said.
 He said police and safety authorities were investigating whether building safety was a factor. 
The school  is now closed. 
The tragedy happened almost a year after a similar stampede in Xiangxiang's Yucai Middle School in Hunan  left eight  pupils dead. In that case, hundreds of schoolchildren raced down a narrow stairway to get to their dormitory. 
In April 2008, at least 10 children were injured in a crush when about 800 pupils from Bai Sheng Township Central Primary School in Chongqing's  Fuling district rushed back to  their classrooms from the playground.
In November 2006, 10 children were killed when  pupils rushed out of class at Tutang Township Middle School in Duchang county, Jiangxi , and started falling over each other after one  squatted down to tie  his or her shoelaces  in a staircase.
School safety has become a top issue on the mainland and even attracted Politburo attention after a series of stabbings around the country killed and injured dozens of schoolchildren. The attacks prompted the authorities to tighten security at schools. 
President Hu Jintao also called on International Children's Day this year for more to be done to protect children  in the wake of a string of  cases of violence involving them. 
Speaking at a public function, Hu was quoted by the People's Daily as saying: 'Society must give importance to the safety of children and do everything to safeguard our motherland's next generation.' 
His comments have sent the strongest indication yet of official nervousness over the risks posed to children's safety  in today's volatile society. 
Yesterday's tragedy sparked an outpouring of sympathy from internet users, with some saying they were praying for the recovery of the children, while others questioned whether schools had done enough to teach students about safety and how to protect themselves.



Seven pupils severely injured in stampede to school playground