(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-23 22:45

YICHANG - A mayor of a city in central China's Hubei Province has resigned after police held her responsible for killing a boy in a traffic accident, local authorities said Wednesday.

The standing committee of the Dangyang City People's Congress said in an announcement released on Wednesday the committee had accepted Fan Xiaolan's resignation from her post as mayor of Dangyang.

At about 7:20 a.m. on March 17, Fan drove a Toyota Prado on her way to work from Yichang City to Dangyang. Her vehicle hit and killed an 11-year-old student at Chuanxin Primary School on the highway linking Yichang and Dangyang.

Dangyang's traffic police said Fan should be held fully responsible for the accident.

Investigations showed Fan was driving at 60 kilometers per hour. She failed to slow down at the intersection near Chuanxin School, according to the Dangyang Police Bureau.

The bureau has transferred Fan's case to the Dangyang City People's Procuratorate, which is yet to decide whether to prosecute Fan.

Xu Jianguo, a lawyer with the Beijing Yipai Law Office said Fan could face up to three years in prison for such a traffic accident.

Yang Yuanzhong, a local government official, said Fan, who had a driver's licence, was hurrying home from business in Yichang, because her child felt ill. Her driver was occupied with a family emergency that day, and could not drive her home. According to Chinese law, officials cannot drive government vehicles without permission.

She has made an apology and paid 220,000 yuan (US$ 28,571) in compensation to the victim's family, who were said to have been satisfied with the handling of the incident.