Boy's death reportedly followed visit by officials who planned to fine family for breaching one-child policy

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

A 13-month-old baby has been crushed to death beneath the wheels of a car belonging to family planning officials, state media have reported.

Eleven officials from Rui'an birth control office near Wenzhou in eastern Zhejiang province had driven to his home to fine his parents for breaching China's strict rules on births, according to a briefing from the local propaganda officials.

The baby's father, Chen Liandi, 39, became agitated and forcefully obstructed the team, while his wife, Li Yuhong, agreed to go with them so they could continue their "thought work", the short news report claimed.

It said police were investigating the death of the little boy, which was described only vaguely.

According to the report, he had been in the arms of his father. But after the officials started their vehicles, he was found crushed under one of the cars. Officials took him to hospital but doctors were unable to save him.

China has reported growing calls for an end to the "one-child" policy in recent years, largely due to concerns about the speed at which the population is aging. But the exposure of controversial cases has also angered many.

There was a public outcry last year after pictures of a woman lying next to her foetus following a forced late-term abortion circulated widely on microblogs.

In 2011, relatives of a 37-year-old mother of two told the Guardian that she died on an operating table after she was forced to have an abortion at six months.

Although forced sterilisations and forced abortions are illegal in China, experts have warned that the pressure on officials to meet targets has fuelled abuses.

The "one-child" policy restricts most urban couples to a single birth but allows rural households to have two if their first is a girl. There are other exemptions, such as for ethnic minorities and couples who are both only children.

An official thinktank, the China Development Research Foundation, recently recommended that a two-child policy be introduced nationwide by 2015, with all birth controls ended by 2020.