Ostuni, April 13 – At least two children have been taken to hospital with injuries after part of the ceiling of an elementary school classroom in the southern town of Ostuni, near Brindisi, caved in on Monday. Michele Angiuli, the commander of the Brindisi fire brigade, said the condition of the two seven-year-olds was “serious but not critical”. A woman teacher was also hurt after falling while rushing to help the children hit by debris. The school in question, the Pessina, reopened on January 7 after lengthy renovation work. It was evacuated of its 500-odd students and staff and sealed off by the authorities. A class of second-year elementary school pupils were at their desks during a lesson when, according to Angiuli, a five-square-metre, three-centimetre-thick section of plaster fell from the ceiling. “We heard shouting, we went to see what happened and there was plaster everywhere,” one teacher season. “One child was losing blood. We were very afraid” Many Italian schools are in a poor state of repair and Premier Matteo Renzi last year announced a 400-million-euro plan to renovate them. “This sort of thing must not happen,” the father of one of the pupils of the Pessina school told ANSA. “That’ s enough. We cannot fear for the lives of our children. “Our children are in danger. The school should be closed and checks run on all the ceiling panels. “It shouldn’ t be possible for something like this to happen at a school that’ s just been renovated”. Ostuni Mayor Gianfranco Coppola said the school had been closed since 2010 before reopening in January. “Work was done on the panels of the first floor and the plaster on the ground floor, where the classroom where the collapse took place is,” Coppola said. Carlo Rienzi, the president of consumers association Codacons, said that the incident showed that many Italian school buildings are in a state of “degradation”. “They are literally falling to pieces,” said Rienzi.

Sezioni:
• Rassegna Stampa

Aree Tematiche:
• SCUOLA
• SCUOLA SICURA

Tags: Ostuni, pessina