January 28, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 08, 1428

AHMADABAD, Jan 27: At least 11 girls were killed and another 14 injured when a school building in the western Indian state of Gujarat collapsed, an official said on Saturday.

Twenty-five children and six staff members were in the building at the time of the accident on Friday, local administrator Vatsala Vasudev told reporters. None of the staff were seriously injured, he said.

The four-storey girls’ residential school usually houses about 330 students, but as it was a holiday, most of them were away.

The accident took place in Tichakpura village, about 255 kilometres south of the state capital Gandhinagar.The school had been built by the state government for tribespeople living in the area, and was desperately in need of repairs, the school’s principal, R. D. Choudhry, said.

Choudhry said he told local authorities several weeks ago that the building needed urgent repairs, and that the state government’s Department of Tribal Welfare and Education had promised to fix the problems.

The local government has ordered an inquiry into cause of the building collapse but no details from local authorities were immediately available.—AP