Owner of collapsed school held as death toll rises to 84

HAITIAN police were yesterday holding the owner of a school that collapsed, killing at least 88 people and setting off a desperate search for survivors trapped in tons of rubble.

Fortin Augustin, the preacher who owns and built College La Promesse in suburban Port-au-Prince, was arrested late on Saturday and charged with involuntary manslaughter, said police spokesman Garry Desrosier.

Augustin was being held at a police station in Haiti’s capital, while a US rescue crew searched for survivors of Friday’s collapse of the three-storey building, which normally held 500 students and teachers.