A terrible tragedy happened on Friday as a school in Pétionville, Haiti collapsed, trapping all of its students under the wreckage and killing 30 people. The school was situated on a hill and had severe structural problems. The facility operated as a kindergarten and school, teaching students all through high school. Rescue crews came to the site as quickly as possible, but with more children trapped under the concrete wreckage, the number of fatalities is likely to rise. The school, operating under the management of a local church, was known to be unsafe as people living near the building moved out of fear of the school collapsing over them.

Haiti is currently one of the poorest countries from the Western Hemisphere and after it was torn apart by riots caused by high prices for food, this is the last thing it needed. Help was sent from all over, as the Dominican Republic sent helicopters to help with the rescue operations, The United Nations also sent help. The combined effort might just help the people trapped under the ruins and maybe, in the end, the number of fatalities won’t be as high.
Pétionville’s mayor stated that the building collapsed most likely because of a structural defect and not because of the recent rains. The building was receiving reparations at the time it collapsed, its third floor being under construction. Police is saying that the preacher running the school might face criminal charges, as it was in his responsibility to announce any structural defects the building might be suffering from.