Three dead as school collapses

Part of a university preparatory school collapsed in a southern Peruvian city, killing at least three students and injuring 27, officials said today.

Firefighters were searching the rubble for more victims after the collapse on Friday in the city of Puno, about 500 miles southeast of Lima. They said the students were preparing to enter universities, but it was unclear how old the victims were.

The first floor of the three-storey school had been built partly of adobe and apparently collapsed under the weight of the floors above, said the commander of the Puno fire department, Rolando Benavente.

Benavente said the first floor was empty at the time of the collapse. The students were on the second floor.