At least eight people were slightly injured Wednesday in another school collapse in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, according to reports reaching Mexico City from Port-au-Prince.
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A view of a school that collapsed in Port-au-Prince November 12, 2008. At least eight people were slightly injured Wednesday as a school in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince collapsed, according to reports from Port-au-Prince. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo] |
This was the second such accident in Haiti within one week. On Friday, more than 90 people were killed in the collapse of College La Promesse in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince.
The latest mishap happened when portions of a concrete ceiling at Grace Divine school in Port-au-Prince crashed down and walls partly gave way. But as the 100-odd students of the school were in the recreation yard when it happened, no one was trapped inside the two-story concrete structure and there were no deaths.
According to preliminary reports, seven students and an adult were treated for minor injuries.
Word of the collapse caused panic among parents, who rushed to the school to pull children out of the school. Ambulances and crews that were handling Friday's deadly collapse of the College La Promesse in nearby Petionville also came to the scene to help.
The cause of the incident was not immediately known.
On Friday, the three-floor building at College La Promesse, which had some 700 elementary and secondary students, collapsed during class time, killing about 90 people, while leaving unknown numbers of students, teachers and others trapped under the debris.
Authorities have not unveiled the causes of the collapse, which was termed by Haitian Education Minister Joel Jean Pierre as a "national catastrophe."
Local police and firemen, as well as officials of the United Nations peacekeeping forces were still trying to rescue the victims.
(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2008)
