Chinese girl dies in hit and run that sparked outrage

BEIJING (Reuters) - A two-year-old Chinese girl run over by two different vehicles and ignored by passersby died on Friday, state media said, in a case which ignited public uproar over what some called a moral numbness seeping through society.

Both drivers who ran over the girl have been arrested, but Internet users have flooded microblogs decrying the apathy of the people who left her for dead, after graphic footage from a security camera of the incident went viral.

Wang Yue died of brain failure more than a week after the accident in Foshan in the far southern province of Guangdong, Xinhua news agency said.

"The hospital went all out and made utmost effort to save her. But ... her injuries were too severe and the treatment had no effect," Su Lei, the director of the Guangzhou Military Hospital's intensive care unit, told a news conference.

The surveillance video from the Oct. 13 hit-and-run, aired by a television station, shows the girl run over by a van, which drives off leaving her to bleed on a narrow street.

More than a dozen people over the next seven minutes walk or drive past the girl on bicycles and she is run over by a second truck. A woman then pulls the girl to the side of the street before her mother, a migrant worker, rushes into the frame.

China's economic boom and the growing disparity between the rich and poor have made changing social values a contentious topic, with some lamenting what they see as materialism replacing morals.

"Now people have become so selfish. So many people walked by but no one helped her because they didn't want to get into trouble," said Yang Yaying, a 21-year-old Beijing resident.