10 South Korean children have been killed after a bus caught fire in a tunnel in Weihai, China.
Korea Times reports that the ten Korean kindergarten students were among 12 people killed in the bus blaze.
13 people were in the vehicle at the time, which was owned by Zhongshi Korean International School. The school caters mostly for Koreans but has not been certified by the Korean government.
The bus driver and a Chinese preschooler were also killed whilst a Chinese teacher is currently in critical condition.
The BBC adds that ten of the children were South Korean and five were dual Chinese nationals.
The cause of the fire is as of yet unknown.
South Korean acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn expressed “grave sadness” over the tragic incident. The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been ordered to mobilise “all diplomatic resources” by Hwang, will work closely with the Chinese government to determine the cause of the accident.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yun Byung-se, has been directed by Hwang to inform the victims’ families with updates. Furthermore, the South Korean Embassy in China has created a special eight-person task force to investigate the incident.
