Teacher Dies As School Roof Collapses In Punjab: Cops

A 45-year-old woman teacher died while three others were injured after the roof of a government school collapsed in Baddowal on Ferozepur road here on Wednesday, police said.

Taking cognizance of the matter, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ordered a magisterial probe and registration of an FIR against the contractor who was carrying out renovation work on the school premises.

The incident took place when four teachers were sitting in the staff room of the government senior secondary school.

They were rushed to a private hospital where teacher Ravinder Kaur was declared brought dead, Deputy Superintendent of Police Deepkaran Singh Toor said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the roof collapse, police said.

Three injured teachers -- Narinderjeet Kaur, Sukhjeet Kaur and Indu Rani -- are undergoing treatment and they were stated to be out of danger, they said.

After meeting the injured, Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner (DC) Surabhi Malik said the FIR was being registered against the contractor by the Ludhiana Rural Police.

She said CM Mann took serious cognizance of the accident and ordered strict action in the matter.

A safety assessment of the school building has been ordered and the building has also been sealed, Ms Malik said while appealing to the people residing near the school not to go near the building till completion of assessment.

The DC said as soon as information regarding the accident was received, several teams of the administration were sent to the site and the Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITBP) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were called in to rescue the four teachers trapped under debris.

She said the teachers were pulled out by the teams and immediately rushed to hospital.

Ms Malik also said that all treatment expenditures of the teachers would be borne by the Punjab government.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)