11 girls dead in Indian school collapse

28 Jan, 2007

Rescue teams on Saturday ended their search through the rubble of a school residence in the western Indian state of Gujarat, which collapsed killing 11 girls and injuring over a dozen, officials said.
Parts of a three-storey hostel belonging to the Adarsh Nivas school in Tichakpura village, 300 km (185 miles) south of the state's main city, Ahmedabad, came down on Friday, burying many students under mounds of rubble. The residence was home to about 150 girls, mainly members of India's disadvantaged tribal communities, and 20 teachers.
"The building collapsed when the girls were playing in the dormitory," said A.T. Dave, a fire official. The state government has ordered an inquiry and offered 100,000 rupees ($2,265) in compensation to the families of those who died. One mother told the NDTV news channel her daughter had warned of the risk of a collapse.
"I met my daughter, Tejal, on December 17. At that time she had told me that the school wall could fall anytime. I had asked her to stay in her room. We are poor and did not have an alternative," the woman, named only as Parvati, said.

Read Comments