A tragedy marked this year's China's Mid-Autumn Festival as 12 students from primary and middle schools in Tangtianshi town drowned to death and 16 others were injured as their overloaded ferry boat sank in Fuyi River off Shaoyang County in Hunan Province late Friday.

Authorities said the boat ran over several iron cables used by sand-mining ships.

Duan Shaoxing, vice-chairman of the Shaoyang county government, told Global Times that the boat, which had the capacity of 14 passengers, took aboard 36 more. The boat owners said the school chartered their boat to send the students home for the annual festival, which falls on Monday.

The owners are detained by the authorities for questioning.

Three Officials Sacked

A day after the accident, three officials were fired for negligence of duty. Tang Xianghong, head of Tangtianshi Township, and Wu Shancheng, deputy head of Shaoyang County, were given termination of notice by the county government on Saturday afternoon. He Jianhau, a maritime official in Shaoyang City, was also removed from office.

Rescue teams are still searching for one more missing passenger. Bereaved families were provided assistance of 200,000 yuan by the Shaoyang government, reports said.

"If a victim had both elderly parents and young children to look after, the compensation could be higher," Duan Shaoxing told Global Times.

Raging Netizens

Online message boards in the region were full of outrage from citizens blaming the government for incompetence. They are demanding a thorough investigation.

Ye JunZ Zi, an active microblogger, wrote, "They just all want the truth and the government to be transparent in giving figures."

"Another tragedy in China! Poor children! Many more families will spend Mid-Autumn Festival in tremendous torture and with broken hearts," says Da Tou TU Xue Xue on her blog.

Also called Mooncake Festival, the mid-Autumn festival is among China's most important holidays.