The News

Mexico Bars Quake-Collapsed School in Capital from Operating

Volunteers and rescue workers search for children trapped inside at the collapsed Enrique Rebsamen school in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. The 7.1 earthquake stunned central Mexico, killing more than 100 people as buildings collapsed in plumes of dust as rescue efforts took place at the school in southern Mexico City, where a wing of the three-story building collapsed into a massive pancake of concrete floor slabs killing scores of students. (AP Photo/Gerardo Carrillo)

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s Education Department says authorities have revoked the permits of an elementary and middle school that collapsed in the recent magnitude 7.1 earthquake, killing 26 people.

The department says in a statement that the Enrique Rébsamen school in Mexico City will be prohibited from operating. The privately run school has been closed since the Sept. 19 quake.

Prosecutors are investigating its owner. Complaints have also been filed against government officials who allegedly ignored warnings about unauthorized construction at the school that may have been responsible for its collapse.

The agency offered Sunday to help families place their children in other schools. Nineteen children and seven adults died at Enrique Rébsamen.

At least 361 people were killed by the earthquake, including 220 in Mexico City.