Hundreds of child slaves rescued in China

BEJING, China, June 16 (UPI) -- More than 1,000 children, some as young as 8, may have been kidnapped and sold as slaves in China, it was reported Saturday.

The children, guarded by fierce dogs, worked in sweltering brick kilns for 16 hours a day with little food, the Times of London reported.

The scandal, involving negligent police and collusion between government officials and slave masters, broke open this past week.

Chinese TV has shown horrifying images of the rescued child slaves, some who still wearing the school uniforms they had on when they were kidnapped. Many of the children had festering wounds, apparently from burns and some were beaten to death by their guards, the Times reported.

Police rescued 468 children and arrested 250 people in raids on 7,500 kilns in Henan and Shanxi provinces in central China. Police said the number of children forced to work in the kilns could rise to more than 1,000.

The slavery ring was exposed only after 400 parents of missing children posted a letter on the Internet pleading for official attention to their plight.