At least 47 killed in school collapse in Haiti

This from the Los Angeles Times:

Reporting from Petionville, Haiti -- A hillside school where about 500 students usually crowded onto several floors collapsed during classes Friday, killing at least 47 people and injuring many more.



Rescuers used bare hands to pull bleeding students from the wreckage. More children were believed buried in the rubble of the concrete building, and the death toll was expected to go higher, said Yphosiane Vil, a civil protection official.

Neighbors suspected that the building was poorly rebuilt after part of it collapsed eight years ago, said Jimmy Germain, a French teacher at the school. He said people who lived just downhill abandoned their land in fear that the building would tumble onto them. He said the school's owner tried to buy their vacated properties.

The concrete building's third story was still under construction. Petionville Mayor Claire Lydie Parent said she suspected a structural defect caused the collapse, not recent rains.

Police Commissioner Francene Moreau said the minister who runs the church-operated school could face criminal charges...