5 Bolivian students killed in fall after balcony railing collapse

Published March 3, 2021 6:29am

Screenshot of a video taken at the UPEA (El Alto Public University), where a balcony railing collapsed and students fell, in El Alto, outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia on March 2, 2021.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - At least five college students died in Bolivia on Tuesday after falling from the fourth floor of a building at the Public University of El Alto (UPEA), in a highland city near La Paz, when a balcony crush led to a railing collapsing.

Dramatic video footage of the accident showed a large group of students gathered on a crowded balcony when the railing gives way and students fall, some to their deaths.

"So far we have a report of five dead and three people in intensive care after what happened at the #UPEA facilities," Interior Minister Eduardo Del Castillo wrote on Twitter.

The accident occurred in the university's financial sciences building, where students were gathered to attend an assembly. At least eight people are reported to have fallen. -- Reuters

Tags: Bolivia, railing collapse, Public University of El Alto