India school roof collapse kills seven children

JAIPUR: Part of the roof and walls of a government-run school collapsed in western India, killing at least seven children and injuring 26 others on Friday, police said.

The structure collapsed when students were attending their classes early on Friday in Rajasthan state’s Jhalawar district, around 322 kilometres (200 miles) south of the state capital Jaipur.

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Around 60 students, teachers and staff members were in the single-storey building when the accident happened, police said.

“Seven children have lost their lives so far and 26 others are injured,” Nand Kishore, a local police officer, told AFP.

Villagers rushed to the site and rescued many injured children who were taken to medical facilities.

It had been raining heavily in the area over the past few days.

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Local media reported the children who died were between eight and 11 years old, while two of those injured were in critical condition.

DILAPIDATED

Television footage showed heavy earth movers removing debris and concrete from the site.

Meanwhile, the building had already been in a dilapidated condition and several complaints had been raised about it, local media said.

“This shocking incident has happened due to negligence of the administration,” Balkishan, who lives close to the school, told reporters at the site.

Balkishan, who uses one name, said that he had been sitting along the road near the school when he heard a loud noise.

“When I turned back and looked, a portion of the building had collapsed and children were screaming,” he said.

“(We) rushed to the building and started removing slabs and stones in order to rescue the children.”

Balkishan said many children “were crying and everyone was trying to pull them out” of the rubble.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was deeply saddened by the tragic incident.

“My thoughts are with the affected students and their families in this difficult hour,” his office said on social media.

“Praying for the speedy recovery of the injured. Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected,” it added.

Rajasthan state education minister Madan Dilawar announced that there would be a probe into the cause of the “very unfortunate” incident.

“I will get a high-level inquiry done today to find out why this incident happened,” Dilawar said in a statement.

He added that local authorities were making “arrangements for the treatment” of the injured students.

TREE BRANCHES

Another villager, whose son was injured in the incident, said that the locals helped rush the rescued students to medical facilities long before government teams reached the site.

“Before any help from the government could come, we had shifted the injured students to the hospital,” he told reporters, without giving his name.

Some students told local media that tree branches had grown in the walls of the school building and water seepage was a problem.

Government schools in India face chronic funding shortages, with students complaining of absent teachers, dilapidated buildings, and a lack of basic amenities such as clean drinking water or toilets.

The situation has improved in urban areas in recent years but the pace of change in rural India remains slow.