Three students died and more than a dozen were seriously injured when the roof of a village school collapsed in Faizabad district on Saturday afternoon.

The deceased include Archna (8), Anshika (9) and Puja (14). The incident took place when a class was underway in Swami Vivekananda Public School, a non-recognised school, in Dharamganj village of Bikapur district. When the thatched roof began to collapse some students and the teacher managed to escape but more than a dozen students were left behind.

Faizabad Additional District Magistrate Krishna Kumar said the school was being run illegally as neither did it have any affiliation nor government permission.

“We have lodged an FIR against Ram Kumar Maurya, the owner of the school, for running the school illegally and providing an unsafe infrastructure which led to this incident,” said Kumar. According to Maurya, the room was safe but due to heavy rains the thatched roof became heavy and could not bear the weight. The school had a student strength of 250.