ZHENGZHOU - A county education official in Central China's Henan province has been suspended from his post after four elementary school students drowned on their way to school, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Liu Zhongping, head of the education and sports bureau of Guangshan county, has been suspended pending further investigation, according to the county's publicity department.

Four pupils from the Tiandeng elementary school drowned in a brook on Monday on their way to school.

Also suspended was Zhang Jinyou, head of the Central school of Nanxiangdian township, which administers the elementary school.

The accident came shortly after a man in the same county attacked dozens of students at a local elementary school.

On December 14, 2012, 36-year-old Min Yongjun stabbed an elderly woman in the village of Chenpeng, then broke into the village's elementary school,where he wounded 23 students.