21/09/2013 00:00
TW
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PART of a container wall in the playground of the “Cas Saboners” school in Magalluf collapsed shortly before the children arrived at 9am yesterday morning. Nobody was injured, but “we weren't fully satisfied until the last stone was removed,” said one of the police officers involved in the operation.
Calviá Town Council reported that the falling blocks of stone had come from an area, some seven metres across, on the upper part of a five metre high wall. Local police rushed to the scene immediately and set about clearing the rubble with their hands, taking action to ensure the area was not approached by unauthorised personnel, and directing traffic around the school buildings. The school director, Joan Mora, ordered children to proceed inside the college buildings and for the playground to be sealed off.
Mora explained that “when the wall fell, the children were getting ready to go into class and in principle, there should have been nobody in the playground, but there was no guarantee and there were some agonising moments”. Many present commented that it was just as well the wall had not collapsed during break time as there could quite possibly have been tragic results.
The mayor of Calviá, Carlos Delgado, and Rafael Bosch from the Planning section of the Education department went straight to the school and expressed relief that nobody had been hurt. Delgado commented: “It's a badly finished piece of work dating from 1988, built without proper drainage. The rains of the last few days may have been the final straw. We'll make sure the area is sealed off and that no one from the school has access to the playground”. The Planning director, Rafel Bosch, will ask to see a full technical report on the causes of the wall's collapse.
In spite of the incident, classes continued as normal. Next Monday, Town Council technicians from the Public Works and Maintenance department will examine the state of the rest of the wall and take appropriate action.