Children trapped after Peru bridge horror

Emergency teams were working today to rescue 30 children after a footbridge collapsed in Peru’s highlands, plunging the youngsters and their teachers more than 230 feet into a ravine and killing at least eight people.

Authorities in Ayacucho province said nearly 80 people were crossing the bridge made of wood planks strung on steel cables when it gave way yesterday.

They fell on to a dry riverbed in Cora Cora region, 300 miles south east of Lima. Two teachers and six schoolchildren died.

Ayacucho health director Maria Torrealba said 70 people were hurt, 33 of them with serious head injuries.