June 11, 2009
In the aftermath of the Chengdu bus fire nightmare, Public Transportation companies (PTCs) across the country that manage city buses are rushing to beef up their safety measures to prevent another tragedy.
In Haikou, capital of Hainan Province, the local PTC equipped its fleet with 400 window hammers. However, today’s Nanguo Metropolis Daily reported that three days after the new hammers were installed, over 200 have gone missing. Theft is suspected.
The company has decided to replace the new eye-catching gadgets with clunky, cheaper models in the hope that no one will be interested in stealing an ugly emergency hammer.
The newspaper’s top headline reported on a sewage pipeline that suddenly broke yesterday while it was under construction. Five workers were trapped when sea water flooded inside. The workers, who are likely dead by now, have not yet been found.
The headline underneath the big photo concerns a gaokao cheating scandal in Songyuan, Jilin Province.
Two local high school teachers were arrested for selling wireless transmitters to their students on June 3rd, several days before the college entrance exam. During the exam, some teachers who had been bought off turned a blind eye to the cheating, and even kept a lookout for the students. One student had his answer sheet torn apart by another student after he refused to comply with demands that he assist in the cheating.
- Nanguo Metropolis Daily (Chinese): Over 200 safety hammers lost in Haikou’s buses, Five workers stuck inside a broke pipeline, The Songyuan gaokao scandal