School wall collapses
"My child could have died!" a parent cried yesterday after an eight-foot concrete wall of a Princes Town primary school collapsed yesterday while students were in the school yard during the lunch break. Five of the school’s pupils had to be rushed to hospital. The five, all Standard Five pupils of St Michael’s Anglican School, had to be treated at the Princes Town District Health Facility for injuries to their head, legs and feet. Christoff Harrison, 12, was the most seriously injured having suffered a gash to his forehead and broken teeth in the incident. He received eight stitches to the forehead. The other schoolchildren injured were — Tricia Auguste, 12, who suffered broken bones in her right foot; Latisha Crawford, 12, and Denecia John, 11, who received cuts to their legs; and Kareem Burton, 11, who suffered a sprained ankle. The incident occurred around 11.45 am during the school’s lunch break, when the five children were in the school yard near the wall on the eastern side of the school’s building. Burton told Newsday, "We were leaning on the wall when we heard a sound like a crack. Next thing the wall fell and we fell too." The five children fell onto the public road, with the bricks and concrete from the broken wall crashing onto them. Limping in pain, Auguste said, "A piece of brick fell on my foot," while Crawford and John said the barbed wire at the top of the wall fell on them and pierced their hands. The primary school pupils told Newsday that with the assistance of a male teacher, they helped each other to their feet. The male teacher drove them to the nearby health facility, and school officials contacted their parents. Burton’s mother, Christine Cooper, said: "This situation could have been worse if it were little children from the infants department who were involved. I don’t think the children should have to go through this kind of thing in their own school." Crawford’s mother, Lisa Marshall, exclaimed, "Look at the size of those concrete blocks. My child could have died! " The parents said, with the wall having collapsed, the safety of their children was at stake. As they stood outside the hospital yesterday, they issued a call for the Ministry of Education to act promptly to repair the walls of the school and other infrastructure. Harrison’s father, Spencer Harrison, commented, "It is unfortunate that the ministry will wait until such an incident occurs, then post a danger notice on the wall." The ministry yesterday issued a release in which it stated simply that it was investigating the matter.
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"School wall collapses"