By IANS,
Shijiazhuang (China) : Three children died and 28 others got injured in a primary school canteen collapse late Wednesday amid heavy snowfall in the northern Chinese province of Hebei, authorities said Thursday.
The accident occurred at about 6 p.m. at Longfeng Private Primary School in Mingguan Town of Yongnian County when the students were dining, a Xinhua report quoted an official as saying.
Two girls and a boy died when the building collapsed amid the snowfall which continued for the second day. Their identities are yet to be made public, he said.
The injured ones were receiving treatment at a local hospital. The local government relocated rest of the students to other schools in the area after the accident.
The government at the same time also issued a notice asking all the middle and primary schools in the county to suspend classes for two days so that the safety measures can be verified in these schools.
Snowfall continued Thursday in many parts of the northern China causing highway and airport closures.
The Taiyuan Airport in Shanxi province was closed again at 2.15 a.m. Thursday after it was reopened at 9 a.m. the previous day.
The snowfall level reached 22.5 mm in Yanggu county and 16 cm of thick snow precipitated in Dongying City as of 11 a.m.
Beijing braced for the third snowfall in November early Thursday morning.
Heavy snowfall was expected to hit the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning Thursday noon and last until Friday night with the highest possible precipitation of 10 mm, said Jiang Dakai, deputy head of Shenyang Central Meteorological Station.