Students killed in Tunisia school wall collapse

A wall collapse at a school in Tunisia killed three high-school students and seriously injured two others on Monday, the civil defence rescue agency said.

"The collapse of a dilapidated wall today led to the death of three students, aged between 18 and 19," in Tunisia's central Sidi Bouzi, civil defence spokesperson Moez Triaa told AFP.

The two injured students were taken to hospital, he said, without providing further details.

The incident sparked public anger, with local residents staging protests shortly after the wall collapsed, according to videos shared on social media.

Call for strike

Tunisia's powerful UGTT labour union federation called for a nationwide school strike to protest what it said was "the authorities' failure to find real and serious solutions to save public schools".

In a statement, the UGTT blamed the "painful tragedy" on official negligence, accusing the government of abandoning basic maintenance of school facilities.

Sidi Bouzid is the birthplace of the 2011 revolution that toppled authoritarian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and later swept through the region in the Arab Spring uprisings.

Tunisians in interior regions have long deplored socioeconomic woes and lack of infrastructure.