Child's tragic death after kindergarten teacher's 'unlucky' act
WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT: CCTV footage has emerged of the horrifying moment a young girl suffered a fatal convulsion as her unwitting kindergarten teacher filmed her classmates eating.
The four-year-old child died in hospital four days after the incident at a kindergarten in the northern Chinese city of Lanzhou on April 12, The Beijing News reported.
The teacher has since been suspended.
Surveillance video shows the children eating during an afternoon break before the girl's head can be seen falling backwards as she loses consciousness. The child sat next to the girl stares at her, but fails to raise the alarm.
The supervising teacher fails to see the girl and continues to film the other children as they eat.
Another teacher twice walks past the student but also fails to notice her condition.
It takes the supervising teacher over a minute to see the girl, eventually realising after filming the girl's table.
The child was rushed to hospital dying four days later after suffering multiple organ failure.
While the cause of death has yet to be confirmed by an investigation team compiled of the Chengguan District Committee and the District Government, one possibility is the child choked while eating.
The child may however have suffered a medical episode. The child's family have not yet agreed to a forensic medical examination, according to The Beijing News.
A review of CCTV footage revealed there was nothing abnormal displayed by either staff or the student prior to the incident.
The child's death has made national headlines in China this week, garnering more than 100 million discussions on Twitter-like site Weibo.
Many users sympathised with the teacher, saying the death was accidental and there was no negligence on her part.
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Some noted teachers were tasked with filming students throughout the day to later share with parents.
"I can only say that the teacher is very unlucky," one person wrote.
The child's family are receiving legal assistance from the state.
The Chenguan District has since carried out an investigation into the hidden dangers of preschool education and has increased training for emergency first aid.
In the wake of the death, multiple demonstration videos, including one from staff of the Nanjing Emergency Centre, shared to Weibo reveal how to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre for multiple ages if someone is found to be choking.
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