DAMASCUS -- Eleven schoolchildren were trampled to death on a stairway during a rush to leave a school in northern Syria, hospital sources said on Friday. Officials said older pupils pushed younger students down the stairway in the rush to leave for home on Wednesday. The sources said nine children died instantly, suffering broken skulls or suffocation. Fifteen were taken to hospital and four were put in intensive care, but two died later.
Officials said an investigation had been opened to determine the cause of the accident and those responsible.
(Reuter)