Hopes fade for little Yue Yue: Doctors confirm girl, two, ignored by 18 people after being run over is brain dead

-Parents to face agonising decision whether to switch off life support machine
-Chinese government agency confirms child is in deep coma and 'clinically brain dead'
-Toddler's condition improved earlier this week but has now deteriorated
-Concern Communist Party officials have called for tighter controls over reporting the incident for fear of a public backlash.


By Peter Simpson


Fighting for life: Yue Yue, two, is in a critical condition in intensive care after being run over twice


A critically injured Chinese toddler left to die in the street after she was run over twice is brain dead, doctors said today.

The parents of two-year-old Yue Yue – which translates as Little Joy in Chinese - may now face the agonising decision about when to turn off the life support machine keeping their daughter alive.

The Chinese Government's state news agency Xinhua quoted doctors as saying Yue Yue 'is in a deep coma and clinically brain dead'.

Cared for: The little girl has regained the ability to take weak breaths with the help of a respirator and has some feeling in her arms

Despair: Yue Yue's mother reacts after finding out the toddler was run over while she was in a nearby market

Distraught: The girl's parents wait anxiously for news in the hospital, where she is in a coma

It appears her condition has deteriorated, despite showing signs of some recovery earlier this week.

'We cannot give any information,' said a hospital spokesman this morning.

Her parents, who are poor migrant workers, have been keeping millions informed about their daughter's condition via a specially created website.

Yesterday they posted that Yue Yue was showing signs of recovery and said medication had been reduced.

Reports claimed her heart beat had stabilised and she had regained the ability to take weak breaths and some feeling in her arms.

But as of Wednesday evening Beijing time, no update had been posted.

There were initial reports this morning that Yue Yue had died, but these appear to be unfounded.


Unaware: Video footage shows the little girl crossing the road at Guangfo Hardware Market, without spotting the van approaching

Injuries: The girl is hit by the van, which fails to stop leaving her lying in the road

Horrific: Yue Yuem lies critically injured on the floor after she was run over by a van in Foshan city, Guangdong, China

Callous: Dozens of people then drive or walk past the critically injured child without stopping to help her

The shocking incident was caught on CCTV and has stunned millions in China, with many saying their society – which has enjoyed 30 years of rapid development – is rotten and immoral.

It also sparked global outrage after more than a dozen people can be seen in the footage walking or driving past the stricken girl as she lay in the street in Foshan city, Guandong province.

The case is quickly becoming a political issue and it is feared Communist Party officials have called for tighter controls over the reporting about the incident for fear of a public backlash.

President Hu Jintao is in his final year of office and his main policy and slogan has been to build a 'harmonious society'.

But millions are using Yue Yue's tragedy to highlight all that is wrong with modern China and claim their society is anything but harmonious.

Public anger is festering over rampant corruption in politics and business, lack of the rule of law, pollution that is seeing cancer rates soar and the widening rich-poor gap, with many of the 'spoilt' siblings of the political elite – so called princelings – being singled out for extra criticism.

Both drivers who ran over Yue Yue have been arrested, but claimed not to have seen the little girl in the 'dark' street.

Chinese media reports that one of the men had allegedly just broken up with his girlfriend and was on his mobile phone when he hit the girl.

The Shanghaiist claims one driver called Yue Yue's father to offer him money just before he was arrested.

It claims he said: 'You saw that girl on the CCTV footage, she didn't see where she was going, you know.

'I was on the phone when it happened, I didn't mean it.

'When I realised I had knocked her down, I thought I'd go down to see how she was.
'Then when I saw that she was already bleeding, I decided to just step on the gas pedal and escape seeing that nobody was around me.'

Authorities in Foshan presented Chen Xianmei, a rubbish collector who went to Yue Yue's aid, with $1,570 as a reward.

Another company in the city has also offered to donate $7,500 to her family and rescuer.

Many people in China are hesitant to help people who appear to be in distress over fears they will be blamed.

High-profile law suits have ended with good Samaritans ordered to pay hefty fines to individuals they sought to help.

The incident has also sparked a series of soul-searching articles in Chinese newspapers, including the Guangzho Daily and People's Daily Online.

Apathy: This motorcyclist just swerved around the crumpled girl and carried on his way


Concern: Finally a woman goes to the little girl's aid and tries to drag her out of the road as her mother arrives on the scene



source: dailymail