Local villagers look on at the site after a crane fell on a kindergarten in Liujia Village of Zhangdian District in Zibo City, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 10, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

Five children died and two were injured when a tower crane collapsed on to a village kindergarten in east China's Shandong Province on Friday.

The accident occurred at around 10:20 a.m. when the crane at a construction site collapsed and damaged the roof of a building in the neighboring kindergarten, where about 100 children were being cared for. The kindergarten was run by Liujia Village of Zhangdian District in Zibo City.

Five children who were outside died after being hit by falling bricks. Two children and the crane driver were injured and were taken to hospital, according to the information office of Zibo government.

A witness from Liujia Village said several ambulances had rushed many injured children to hospital and local police had cordoned off the area.

A preliminary police investigation attributed the accident to poor safety measures. Managers of the construction company had been detained, Zibo police said, without giving further details.

Zibo police and work safety officials are still investigating the accident.