The death toll from a flash flood which hit a Chinese primary school last week has risen children trapped in their classrooms when the waters surged. Local officials in the town of Shalan, in Heilongjiang province, are being investigated for negligence, the official Xinhua news agency said. More than 350 children between six and 14 years old were enrolled at the school, though it was not clear how many were attending when the waters hit. The flooding was caused by very sudden and heavy rain, which a local water resources official said happened only once every 200 years. But there have also been complaints that the village of Shalan and the school were built in a low-lying area prone to flooding, known as the Shalan ditch.

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