In Ningxia, a tragic incident occurred as a school wall collapsed in Yuánzhōu District of Gùyuán City in June, resulting in the deaths of a grandmother and her granddaughter who were struck by the falling debris. Additionally, a pregnant woman was injured in the incident. This news quickly gained attention and trended on Baidu on June 16.
Reported by Jímù News on June 15, heavy rain and strong winds hit Zhàikē Township in Yuánzhōu District, Gùyuán City on the evening of June 13, causing the perimeter wall of the central elementary school in the township to collapse. Tragically, the collapsing wall struck a tent outside, injuring a woman in her fifties, known as Zhāng Tāo, and her granddaughter of over a year old who were inside the tent. Despite efforts to save them, the grandmother and granddaughter passed away. Zhāng Tāo’s daughter-in-law, who was pregnant, was injured but not critically.
According to a local resident, Mr. Yáng, Zhāng Tāo’s family had erected the tent outside the school wall to save costs while building a house due to their significant expenditures.
A relative of the Zhāng family speculated that the wall collapsed due to its unstable and poorly maintained structure, exacerbated by the erosion from the rainwater.
An employee of the central elementary school in Zhàikē Township mentioned that the wall was constructed around 2020, and there were no visible cracks prior to the collapse, which extended over ten meters. The loss of the grandmother and her granddaughter deeply saddened everyone. It remains unclear if the authorities were informed about the tent set up by the Zhāng family outside the school wall.
The official from the Zhàikē Township government stated that Zhāng’s family had reported the tent setup to the village committee, and the township government had knowledge of their storage of supplies in the tent.
On June 13 at 18:37, the Gùyuán City Meteorological Observatory issued an orange hail warning: it predicted that within the next three hours, there could be hail, strong precipitation, thunderstorms, and strong winds in the Tànshān and Zhàikē Townships of Yuánzhōu District, which may lead to hail disasters.