Noida: Wall adjoining school collapses, one dead

A seven-year-old was killed and 23 others were injured when an under-construction wall collapsed in a school at Barola in Noida on Thursday.

The 12-foot long wall collapsed on an open air nursery class of RCV Public School, killing Sanjay Kumar and injuring the others.

Four of the injured children — Deepika, 6, Vikul, 10, Tushar, 8 and Chirag, 8 — suffered serious head injuries and were referred to Lok Nayak hospital in Delhi. One primary teacher, identified as Pinky, 30, suffered head injuries.

“The incident happened during the morning hours when the nursery classes were on. An under-construction wall from the adjoining premises collapsed on the nursery class.

The classes were being held in the open air on Thursday due to some renovation work inside the building,” said Deepak Kumar, a teacher who helped rescue 10 kids.

Locals helped in the rescue efforts. The injured were rescued and rushed to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital in Sector 30, where the doctors pronounced one of them, later identified as Sanjay, dead on arrival.

“A team of 10 doctors was immediately rushed from the health department to the hospital for assistance. Around seven doctors from our hospital tended to the injured patients throughout the day,” said Dr RNP Mishra, chief medical superintendent of district hospital, Sector 30, Noida.

Two FIRs have been filed in this case. While the father of the deceased filed a case against the owners of the property, a case was also filed against the school administration for illegally running the school.

“We have registered an FIR under section 304 of IPC against owners of the property Praveen and Naveen. Another accused Lala Pradhan, who was present at the spot when the incident occurred, was arrested,” said Preetinder Singh, SSP Noida.

According preliminary investigations, police believe that clay being used in construction of the wall, as a replacement of cement, led to the incident.

“The school was running without any approval from education department. Financial help is being recommended to the family of the victims,” said Chandrkant, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar.