South Africa school collapse kills three students

Three students have been killed and 23 injured after a walkway at a South African school collapsed on Friday.

Panyaza Lesufi, the head of education for Gauteng province, said two boys and a girl died in the collapse at Hoerskool Driehoek school in Vanderbijlpark, outside Johannesburg.

"It is painful to see those tiny bodies in that state," he said.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear.

"Paramedics assessed the patients and found that three children, aged between 14 and 17, had sustained numerous fatal injuries. Nothing could be done for them and they were declared dead," emergency medical service ER24 said in a statement.

The paramedics service added that four of the injured students had to be airlifted to a hospital.

nn, ap/ng (dpa, AP)

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