Children and teachers die as Peru bridge snaps

At least seven children and two teachers have died after a bridge they were crossing on their way home from school collapsed in Peru. The suspension bridge leading to a high school in the Andean mountain town of Coracora snapped yesterday injuring more than 50 others who plunged into a ravine.

Most of the injured were aged 10 and 13, and two of the dead were teachers who were with their students when the pedestrian bridge collapsed, the health ministry said."We've suffered a grave accident, a suspension bridge that goes to a high school has fallen, it has broken in two and we have a large number of students injured and dead," Mayor Walter Antayhua told Radio Programas del Perú radio.

The bridge over the Santa Barbara river, in southern Peru's Ayacucho province, was 130ft (40m) long and stretched above a canyon that is up to 320ft (98m) deep. At least 53 victims were taken to the hospital, 14 of them with serious injuries. Local health department officials were quoted as saying that the bridge "broke in two" as students and teachers from four rural schools were crossing it while going home.

Helicopters were sent to the town but could not land because of foul weather, and the government said it hoped to fly in trauma surgeons today (Tuesday). "We need a helicopter because there are children who are dying," Alfonso Paredes, a town resident told Reuters news agency at the poorly equipped hospital where patients were being treated.

At least 53 victims were taken to the hospital, 14 of them with serious injuries."The injuries are grave," said Fernando Valencia, a surgeon with a local hospital confirming reports that the death toll had risen to nine. Suspension bridges woven from ropes were built during the Incan empire. They are now often made of metal cables lashed to cement posts and are widely used in remote mountain towns in Peru.Antayhua, the mayor of Coracora, said repairs were scheduled for the bridge last week but it snapped before work could begin.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children