Recently, in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, a bus carrying students collided with a dump truck, resulting in a tragic accident. According to the local government announcement, the bus was carrying 45 people, including 39 students, 3 teachers, and 2 parents besides the driver. The right side of the bus was seriously damaged in the collision, leading to significant injuries and casualties among the students on board. The cause of the accident was attributed to the malfunctioning traffic light in the direction the bus was traveling, which had not been repaired. A viral video online showed that all traffic lights in the direction the bus was heading were black at the time of the collision.
On May 12th, @NewsInvestigation posted on X platform that 23 people had died, including 21 students and 2 teachers. However, the government announcement stated, “1 person died, 1 person was critically injured, both students, and 6 others sustained minor injuries and were receiving hospital treatment.” The description of the deceased student reads, “One student was in critical condition, and despite efforts to save them, they passed away.”
A video circulating online on the day of the incident showed a young girl lying on the ground unnoticed, with a black cloth covering her head. Later, the girl’s mother posted a video on social media stating that her child had died on the spot, questioning why the authorities did not notify parents immediately. It took her 5 hours to find her child in the hospital, during which various responsible departments were blocking information.
Subsequently, the cousin of the deceased girl posted, “My sister suffered severe injuries to her nose and brain, so was the five hours at the hospital truly dedicated to saving her life or merely delaying the inevitable? Since the incident on the 10th noon, we have not received any updates or calls. The child’s body is already in the mortuary, and the police response is still under investigation. Are they truly investigating or just delaying to reduce public outcry?”
The child died on the spot, and parents were not notified; there was no hope of saving the child, yet the authorities claimed they were doing everything to save them, deliberately delaying for 5 hours. The child’s body was already at the mortuary, and the police still stated it was due to unsuccessful rescue efforts. The family directly questioned the authorities and the government for deliberately delaying, lying, concealing, and reducing public outrage.
Meanwhile, the road administration department in Nantong promptly conducted maintenance on all traffic lights in the city, indicating that the previous negligence in addressing faulty traffic lights that could lead to accidents was a case of bureaucratic laziness and inaction.
Not only did the repair of traffic lights happen swiftly after the accident, but the government’s security measures were also rapidly enforced. Following the incident, parents who were informed rushed to the hospital and were confronted by several special police personnel wearing “SWAT” uniforms, with official personnel on-site restricting citizens from recording videos.
The police tightly cordoned off the accident scene, and police cars were on guard all night. Police not only confiscated flowers that people had voluntarily brought to the accident site but also issued notices to flower shops prohibiting the sale of chrysanthemums used for mourning.
Multiple online messages indicated that special police tightly controlled all the families of the deceased, with the government assigning each family a dedicated working group for supervision, ensuring no one was left alone and restricting contact. They claimed to provide psychological counseling but were monitoring their phones, aiming to prevent them from revealing the truth.
Recently, videos and related texts posted by the mother of the deceased child on social media have been deleted. She angrily declared, “My precious daughter was taken away on the spot, there was no real attempt to save her. If the platform continues to block me, I will go to Beijing and sue; the government is covering up the truth.”
The government’s meticulous security work aims to downplay the tragic bus accident claiming dozens of lives, suppress information, create a facade of harmony, and cover up the truth, through means of suppressing facts and controlling online information and family members of the victims.
Because whether it was the negligence of government departments leading to traffic light malfunctions and accidents, or the accurate disclosure of the number of deaths, it could jeopardize certain officials’ positions. Hence, the local government’s greatest fear is escalation, hence resorting to online censorship to control public discourse and information while rigorously monitoring the victims’ families offline to conceal the truth.
It can be said that in any tragic event under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), similar security measures can be observed, from the Eastern Airlines crash, Zhengzhou flood, Tie Chain lady incident, Tangshan BBQ restaurant beating incident, Hu Xinyu disappearance, the recent high school student massacre in Ningling, Henan, the brutal killing and burial of Wang Ziyao in Hebei, to the Meida Expressway incident on May 1st, the CCP consistently adopts comprehensive and multi-dimensional security modes after accidents occur.
Deleting posts, videos, and banning accounts is a common security measure adopted by the CCP. For instance, after the bullying and cruel murder of Wang Ziyao in Handan, Hebei, when family members sought justice, they faced police scrutiny. When the prosecutor’s lawyer disclosed the autopsy results on Weibo, describing it as “extremely terrible, extremely brutal, inhumane,” local government control quickly ensued, wiping out all posts from the lawyer’s account. Eventually, Wang Ziyao’s uncle mentioned, “Both accounts were blocked, people from the communication company came to our house yesterday, blocked our signals, afraid we would spread chaos. At this moment, at least eight people are stationed in front of our house, preventing anyone from approaching.”
Following the brutal murder of students in Ningling County, Shangqiu, Henan, where wounds were inflicted by screwdrivers, the police exonerated it as a homicide, triggering public anger leading to mobs vandalizing the school and county government. The local police urgently deployed 2000 officers, imposing martial law in the county. Over a hundred individuals who recorded videos or posted content on Douyin (TikTok) were arrested, taken to local police stations, and forced to sign agreements pledging not to post online.
After the Hu Xinyu incident, where family members insisted on seeking the truth, the police activated intense security measures. Hu Xinyu’s mother’s Douyin account was wiped clean, and about 1894 social media accounts on platforms like Douyin, Tencent, Weibo, Kuaishou, Baidu, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu related to the case were suppressed.
Another CCP security measure includes closely monitoring and controlling the victims’ families, confining them to designated areas, restricting their movements, contacts, and freedom. During the Meida Expressway disaster on May Day, authorities control…