Peruvian school collapse kills 13

April 20, 2002

LIMA, Peru - A university preparatory school collapsed in a southern Peruvian city, killing at least 13 people and injuring as many as 30, officials said Saturday.

Firefighters continued searching the rubble of the three-story building for more victims of Friday's collapse in the city of Puno, about 500 miles southeast of Lima.

Puno fire chief Rolando Benavente said Saturday that rescuers expect to find more victims in the rubble.

"The first thing I felt were the windows crashing down," 17-year-old survivor Mariana Ortega told reporters at a nearby hospital were she was treated for wounds.

"I only saved myself because I was near the door," she said.

At least some of the victims were students in their late teens preparing to enter universities.

Students were holding a meeting on the middle floor of the 60-year-old building when the ground floor — made of adobe — crumbled, Benavente said.

Local officials told reporters that the building was not authorized to operate as a school. Unlicensed schools are not uncommon in Peru and a recent report by a Lima newspaper found 10 out of 51 downtown pre-university academies lacking building permits.

 © 1999-2004, PERU TO YOU    This page last updated on January 03, 2009