The mother cried uncontrollably after losing her son. Photo by reporter Zhou Mingjie.
Yesterday, a woman was seen sitting outside the Dehen School in Xishan District of Kunming city, supported by relatives, grief-stricken. Beside her, bedding had been laid out and some relatives and friends had put up banners. An old man said emotionally: "My grandson never had any illness, he was fine when we sent him to school, so how come he is gone so quickly? It's been more than five days and the school authorities still show no concern and have not given us any response." However, the school’s responsible person said that after the forensic doctor from Xishan police checked, there were no obvious external injuries on the child's head, nor were there any poisoning symptoms. Now, they could only wait for the forensic results before negotiating how to handle the matter.
Father's Account
Son complained of headache, died in hospital
Li Fagui and his wife have two sons; their elder son Li Xian, 8.5 years old, was a third-grade student at the Dehen School in Xishan District. On the morning of September 21st, Li Fagui sent his son to school. He didn't expect that the next time they met would be in death.
Li Fagui said: "The child rarely got sick, and when I sent him to school that day, he was fine with nothing unusual. Around 10:00 AM, I received a call from the school saying the child had a headache. My brother-in-law arrived at the school within seven or eight minutes and saw the child being supported while lying on the table, barely breathing. Only then did the school send the child to the hospital, but the doctor said it was too late!"
Li Fagui and his family all had doubts: "Why didn’t they call 120 (emergency services)? There were no bruises on the child’s body. What exactly happened? Why did my child go in fine and suddenly pass away?" Li Fagui's cousin said: "I suspect the child might have fallen during the break-time exercises."
Scene of Tragedy
Mother Grieves Over Loss of Son
In the afternoon, as students gradually entered the school, the school staff opened the side gate, then closed it again after the students went inside.
Outside the school gate, Li Xian's mother sat on the ground, crying loudly with tears streaming down her face. "My child, why are you gone? How am I supposed to live now!" The reporter noticed that her relatives and friends squatting beside her also had tearful eyes. Li Fagui, walking back and forth around the banners, said: "I am deeply saddened and I just want an explanation."
Outside the gate, several local police officers and security personnel stood guard. One officer occasionally approached the grieving family members to console them: "We are actively negotiating with the school, hoping you can resolve this through proper discussion."
School's Statement
Cause of Death Awaits Forensic Results
Xishan District's Dehen School has five junior high school classes and fourteen elementary school classes, with a total of 921 students. At 1:30 PM yesterday, the reporter entered the school for an interview.
Principal Wang of Dehen School said that Li Xian was normal during the first and second periods. Around 10:10 AM, the middle school students performed the calisthenics first, followed by the elementary school students. At that time, Li Xian started complaining of a headache. After informing the family, the homeroom teacher arranged for classmates to take care of Li Xian in the classroom to report any issues promptly. After the calisthenics, the teacher quickly returned to the classroom and informed the school leadership of the situation. Subsequently, some teachers suggested calling 120, but because driving directly from the school was faster, the teachers drove the child to the hospital after the family arrived, but unfortunately, the child passed away despite medical efforts. "After the incident, we immediately notified the jurisdictional police station. Through the examination by the forensic doctors from Xishan Public Security Bureau, it was preliminarily determined that there were no obvious external injuries on the child's head, nor were there any poisoning symptoms. The following day, the school applied for a forensic appraisal, which will take 30 working days to get the result."
Principal Wang said: "That day, the police officers questioned the classmates around Li Xian. During several negotiations with the family, they wanted to know the cause of death and demanded an explanation, and we also wanted to know the cause of death, wanting the forensic results as soon as possible. The family's feelings can be understood. The child had always been studying at our school. The family's pain is felt by us as well. Now, we can only wait for the forensic results and then negotiate specifically. All rescue costs and post-mortem expenses were temporarily covered by the school."
At 2:00 PM, under the coordination of the police, the family of the deceased entered the school to negotiate with the school authorities, but the outcome remains unknown.
Reporter Lü Shicheng (Chun Cheng Evening News)