At least seven children were killed on Friday morning when the roof of a school building collapsed in northwestern India, officials said.
The children had just arrived for classes in a village near Jhalawar, a city in Rajasthan State, when the roof collapsed at around 8 a.m., Ajay Singh Rathore, the district magistrate, said in a phone interview. The children had been on their way to morning prayers, he said.
“It had been raining incessantly and a lot of water had collected on the roof of the single-story building,” Mr. Rathore said. “The children were struck by the roof which collapsed under the weight of the water.”
Prem Chand Bairwa, the state’s deputy chief minister, told local news media that seven children had been killed. He said that many others had been injured, but did not give a number.
Those killed were ages 8 to 14, Mr. Rathore said. The children who were hurt in the collapse sustained minor injuries, he said, and were being sent home.
Video footage of the aftermath, shared by local news media, showed dozens of people digging through rubble. Some onlookers were visibly distressed, letting out cries. The footage later showed a construction vehicle attempting to reach the site of the collapse.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India called the “mishap” at the school “tragic and deeply saddening.”
“Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected,” he wrote in a post on X.
Rajasthan, which is on the border with Pakistan, is known for extreme temperatures, and a monsoon season that lasts from roughly July to September.
Over the last month, the region has been battered by heavy rainfall, which has forced the closure of some schools and flooding at hospitals. On Friday, a school van in Rajasthan was swept up in fast-moving floodwaters, temporarily trapping 10 children inside, local news media reported.
This month, Rajasthan’s education department issued a safety warning for schools related to the heavy rainfall. The department called for school leaders to inspect buildings, including ceilings, to ensure that they were not damaged or leaking.
Over the last week, 23 people have died in rainfall-related incidents in Rajasthan, according to local news reports, including at least two children who drowned.
Suhasini Raj is a reporter based in New Delhi who has covered India for The Times since 2014.
Jonathan Wolfe is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news.
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