At least 42 children were killed and 30 injured in an explosion while they were making fireworks in their school on 6 March in Jiangxi province, China.

Aged between eight and 10, the children were forced by the school to assemble fireworks during and after their classes. According to reports, parents say their children worked in shifts inserting detonators for the local industry.

Residents of Fang Lin village said the money earned by the junior school pupils went to local school officials and teachers. Despite parents' complaints against the use of their children for labour, the authorities failed to put a stop to it.

One villager said “younger children had to produce about 1,000 pieces a day, and the older kids [10-year-olds] had to make 10 times that many.” Despite the Government's denial that firework manufacture was to blame for the deaths, one Wanzai County official confirmed the school was used to assemble fireworks. This violates domestic and international legislation, particularly the 1999 International Labour Organization's convention No. 182, which prohibits children from being employed in hazardous work.

For more see child labour