6 children drown in north China

Six children have drowned in a river in Pingyao County, north China's Shanxi Province, local government said on Sunday. The children, aged from 5 to 11, fell into water while ice skating on a section of Huiji River in Nanzheng Village on Saturday afternoon, the county's publicity office quoted witnesses as saying. Local police received a call about the accident at 4:47 p.m., and launched an emergency response immediately. Four children were found in the rive one and a half hours later, and the rest two were found by frogmen beneath the ice at around 7:30 p.m.. They were rushed to hospital, but all died from drowning. Local police are investigating the incident.