A court in central China's Hubei Province Friday sentenced a woman to death and another two to life in prison for trafficking more than 40 children.

The 23-member child trafficking ring were convicted of buying 49 children from Shizong County in southwestern Yunnan Province and selling them to people in Shexian County in northern Hebei Province, the Wuhan Railway Transport Intermediate Court said in a statement.

The ring, busted in May and June last year, sold the boys for up to 40,000 yuan (US$5,860) and girls for up to 20,000 yuan each between March 2005 and July 2009.

The court handed down the death sentence to Yu Lixiang, the ringleader, for trafficking 33 children and causing one to death. Du Minghua and Yu's sister Yu Xiaofen were sentenced to life in prison in the first-instance trial.

The rest 20 accomplices were sentenced to two to 15 years in prison.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2010)