Mudslide kills 4 Haitian schoolchildren

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Four children died and eight were hurt after mudslides poured into a classroom in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, aid workers said.

Heavy rain sent dirt and boulders from a nearby mountain crashing into the classroom of 8-year-olds at a school in a residential area of Haiti's second largest city, The Miami Herald reported.

"It was madness," said Jess Lozier, coordinator for Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, which helps provide sanitation, electricity and clean water to developing countries.

Haitian National Police officers, U.S. Army troops and doctors from Help Haiti Heal helped remove children from the rubble. The number of students in the classroom was not known, but Lozier said the school's director indicated "all the other kids were accounted for."

Cap-Haitien residents also reported two small earthquakes overnight, but the U.S. Geological Survey said it received no reports of earthquakes in Haiti's northern region, the newspaper said. The area is on a different fault line than the one that triggered the 7-magnitude earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, and surrounding cities Jan. 12.