China to probe high number of school collapses

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has launched a probe into the high number of school collapses in Monday's earthquake that killed thousands of children and buried thousands more when many other buildings remained standing.

The 7.9 magnitude quake struck in the middle of the afternoon in the southwest province of Sichuan when most children were at their desks or taking a nap.

A score of high-profile cases of hundreds of children being killed instantly or buried beneath their schools has fuelled anger from parents who have accused authorities of cutting costs and failing to meet safety standards.

China put the quake's total death toll at around 22,000 on Friday, including 21,577 in Sichuan, but has said it expects the toll to exceed 50,000.

"I am very saddened by the deaths of students. If investigations show that is the case, it must be dealt with seriously," Jiang Weixin, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction, told reporters at news conference carried live on state television.

Bloggers and state media have also raised questions after pictures of collapsed schools surrounded by relatively unscathed buildings.

Jiang side-stepped a question on whether he had noticed a disproportionate amount of schools had collapsed, saying that the toppled schools he had visited were surrounded by other ruins.

But he conceded that corner-cutting may have played a part.

"At this stage we also cannot rule out the possibility that there may have been shoddy work and inferior materials during the construction of some school buildings," Jiang said.