Falling beam hurts students at Elko charter school

ELKO -- Six students are hurt after a lightweight steel support beam fell in a second-grade classroom at an Elko charter school.

Principal Maureen Martin-White of the Elko Institute for Academic Achievement said that the students were getting books in a back corner of the room Wednesday morning when the beam fell.

Six students were struck and were taken to the hospital accompanied by their parents. Martin-White told the Elko Daily Free Press two students were struck on the head, three reported ankle injuries and one had an injured hand.

The beam was used to brace the interior classroom walls to the exterior walls. It had pulled away from the wall and was not securely attached.