Children at a County Down primary school have been left shaken after a ceiling collapsed in a classroom.
The incident happened at about 11:00 BST while P4/5 pupils were being taught at Killyleagh Integrated School.
No-one was injured, but the collapse left a three square metre hole in the ceiling.
A father of one of the pupils in the classroom said his daughter was “missed by a matter of inches”.
“My daughter was at her desk when the ceiling fell,” said William Walker, father of eight-year-old Zoe.
“If it had of been six or seven inches over, it could have done her a lot of damage.”
Leaking pipe
“They all sit four to a desk in the class. A big piece of the ceiling fell onto the desk,” said Mr Walker.
“They were doing their writing and it just came down… She could have been in hospital, or worse.”
The school’s principal said the incident happened because of damp from a leaking pipe.
“The children were moved to a spare classroom and normal business resumed,” said Jason Milligan.
“The education board reacted quickly and the ceiling has now been repaired.”
It is understood school staff have been raising maintenance issues with the education authority for some time, said BBC News NI’s David Maxwell at the scene.
[Source:- BBC]
