Tragedy in Bolivia: seven university students die after four-storey plunge

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Seven students died Tuesday, March 2nd, after falling from the fourth floor of a building after the railing collapsed at the Public University of El Alto (UPEA) in Bolivia.

According to local newspaper El Deber, 3 died instantly, while the other 4 died after being rushed to a medical facility.

The victims were identified as Raúl Cadena Choque, Genio Esteban Mamani, Saúl Yerko Mamani Soria, Daniel Junio Rodríguez, Anahí Chipana, Loida Soza Machaca and Tania Roque Choque. The injured are Limber Lucana Arcaya (19 years old), Lino Iván Paredes Chambi (20), Carla Quispe Valdez (20) and Marisol Verástegui (27).

The first 3 deaths occurred at the scene, and the other 4 while being rushed to medical facilities or while being attended to by medical staff.

According to different sources, there was a large group of young students attending an assembly which led to protests and jostling for position on the crowded balcony, which caused the railing to give way.

The regional police chief of the city of El Alto, Leonel Jiménez, has confirmed the deaths.

The Prosecutor’s Office, the Police and the university’s directors have already launched investigations to determine the causes of the accident.

In a statement, the Public University of El Alto lamented the “accident” and said that the “fact is being investigated by the Bolivian Police,” and that the university officials have also “ordered an internal investigation.”

Several newspapers asked why over 60 students were allowed to gather on a single floor, without the required distancing and biosafety measures imposed by the pandemic, and under what conditions the student assembly was allowed to take place.

According to witnesses, a student assembly was being held in the Business Administration building to discuss financial issues, with which there were some disagreements that led to student protests and confrontations.

In several videos on social networks, students can be seen crowded together protesting in the corridors leading to a hall where the assembly was taking place, moments before one of the railings collapsed and the eight students plunged from the fourth floor.

In statements to a local radio station, the UPEA administrator, Henry Huanca, said that an “assembly was taking place despite the fact that there is a decree banning assemblies, but this group of students was allowed to enter (…) there was an assembly with confrontations and amidst jostling, seven students fell.”

Source: Infobae

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