A tragic loss

Bus crashes into students and parents outside China school, killing 11

At least 11 people were killed when a bus crashed into a group of students and parents outside a school in China's Hunan province on Tuesday, state media reported.

The bus was carrying 41 people when it crashed into a group of people waiting to cross the road outside the Number One Middle School in Wugang city.

The dead included 9 students and 2 parents, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

At least 20 other people were injured in the crash, five of them seriously,

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

The bus driver has been detained by police.

The accident is the latest in a series of fatal school bus crashes in China.

In 2011, 15 children were killed when a school bus was hit by a truck in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

In 2012, 18 children were killed when a school bus plunged into a river in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The Chinese government has taken steps to improve school bus safety in recent years, including requiring all school buses to be equipped with seat belts and installing cameras on school buses.

However, experts say that more needs to be done to ensure the safety of school children.

"This is a terrible tragedy," said Zhang Jun, a professor of traffic safety at Tsinghua University in Beijing. "We need to do more to protect our children."

The Chinese government has expressed its condolences to the families of the victims.

"We are deeply saddened by this tragic accident," said Premier Li Keqiang. "We will do everything we can to support the families of the victims and to prevent such tragedies from happening again."