Beijing, Dec. 13 (Reuters): Fifteen children were killed when a school bus crashed in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu, state media said today.

The bus rolled into a ditch as it veered off the road to avoid a pedicab, the Xinhua news agency said. At least eight children were injured in the accident, which happened after school yesterday.       

“Students became trapped at the bottom of the overturned bus and drowned as water gushed into the wreck,” Xinhua reported, citing Zhang Bin, a deputy head of the Fengxian county, where the accident happened. The driver, he said, had been detained.       

Xinhua gave conflicting accounts on the number of children on board the bus, but all the reports suggested it was not overloaded. Xinhua last reported that 29 were on board.       

An outcry erupted across China in early November after 18 nursery school children were killed when a coal truck slammed into their overcrowded school van in northwestern China.

The deaths are sure to amplify calls for more spending on education and children’s safety.