Seven children killed, scores injured in Nairobi classroom collapse
Search and rescue efforts underway at Precious Talent School in Nairobi's Ng'ando area along Ngong Road on September 23, 2019. COURTESY PHOTO
Seven children died and more were wounded when their classroom collapsed on Monday morning in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, medics said.
"Seven pupils dead, several injured after a classroom collapsed at Precious Talent Academy in Dagoretti," St John Ambulance -- whose rescuers were involved in the search and rescue -- wrote on Twitter.
Some 17 pupils have been admitted at the Kenyatta National Hospital, according to the Daily Nation.
The two-storey building in Ng’ando area is said to have caved in and came down a few minutes to 7am.
TV footage showed rescue teams from Kenya Red Cross, St John’s Ambulance, school workers, residents and other Good Samaritans combing through the rubble and lifting blocks as they battled to save the trapped children.
Some of the rescuers used rudimentary tools, including sticks, to dig up the rubble as many parents watched in despair.
The school managers could not estimate the number of pupils who were in class when the building came tumbling down at 6.50am.
According to parents, the school managers called them immediately to notify them of the collapse.
The classes that collapsed were housing the junior primary pupils but the most affected are those in Standard Six, Seven and Eight on the ground floor, who were trapped in rubble.
