Death toll rises after Haiti school collapse

A frantic search for survivors is continuing in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, after a school collapsed killing at least 80 people, most of them children.

The three-storey La Promesse school caved in while class was in morning session, and some of the walls and debris crushed neighbouring residences, injuring more than 120 people, 20 of them seriously.

Visiting the scene, President Rene Preval said the poorly constructed school didn’t meet building standards, but he stressed the priority of authorities was to continue the hunt for those alive, trapped under debris.

He also appealed to watching bystanders on roofs to clear the area to avoid a second catastrophe. Up to 700 children were thought to be in the building at the time. Part of the school had already collapsed several years ago and the third and top floor was under construction.

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