A STAMPEDE in a China primary school that left 41 children hospitalised was triggered when a young girl stopped to tie her shoe as students rushed out to a playground, state media said.

The accident occurred in the small city of Aksu in China's far-western Xinjiang region on Monday as more than 100 students were running down a narrow stairwell, Xinhua news agency said.



An eight-year-old girl at the head of the group stopped to tie a loose shoelace, causing onrushing students to trip over her, triggering a pile-up, it said.



The accident saw 41 students hospitalised, several of them in a serious condition.



Xinhua said the girl who triggered the accident was the most seriously injured and remained in intensive care, though she was out of danger.



No deaths have been reported.



At least 120 children were sent to hospital, reports have said, but it was not clear whether all were injured as some reports described chaotic scenes after the accident in which children jumped into ambulances that arrived.



Last week, a deadly stampede in Cambodia during the annual water festival left 351 people dead in the country's worst tragedy in decades.



Safety at Chinese schools has come under the spotlight following a string of deadly attacks on young students this year by apparently deranged assailants.