15 Chinese children make deadly climb to school

Fifteen children in southwest China might have the most terrifying commute to school. 

Children, between ages 6 and 15, scale a cliff about 2,625 feet high multiple times a month between their home and a school in Atuler village. The trip takes about 90-minutes.

Images from their home trek, taken by award-winning Beijing News photographer Chen Jie, went viral on Chinese media after appearing on the front page of the English-language China Daily and other newspapers on Thursday, AP reported. Now, authorities in the area said they are looking for ways to help the villagers, including building a steel staircase, according to The Guardian.

Chen, who spent three days with the villagers and made the journey with them three times, told The Guardian “if you have any kind of accident, you will fall straight into the abyss.”

Chen hopes his photographs will bring about change, and help for these villagers.

Zhang Li, a reporter from China’s state broadcaster CCTV who was sent with the children on assignment, cried as she made the trek with the children.

Api Jiti, the head of the children's farming community, told Beijing News "seven or eight" people have died during the climb.

Because of the deadly route, the children cannot travel it daily. Instead, they board at the school and return home every two weeks.