Jhalawar, July 26 -- A regular morning with the chatter of students assembling for prayers quickly turned into tragedy on Friday when a portion of their Government school building collapsed, killing seven children and injuring 27, some of them critically.

The youngest of those who died was only six years old. Minutes into the morning at the Piplodi Government School in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district, a part of the middle school building housing Classes 6 and 7 gave way, burying about 35 children.

Slabs of concrete, bricks and stones were piled up high and scores of people, including frantic parents and teachers, helped in the rescue effort, searching through the mounds of debris to pull out the children. Police officials said they were i...