Teacher Takes Life After Russian School Deaths

The teacher was close to the victims, all girls aged about 17, school principal Larisa Tsepovod told the RIA news agency.

A Russian schoolteacher has committed suicide after five of her pupils died when their school building collapsed in a provincial town, local authorities said on Thursday.

The deputy principal, 43, was found hanged in her garage by her husband.

A section of the two-storey school where she worked in Belyayevka, about 1,100 km (680 miles) southeast of Moscow, came crashing down on Wednesday.

The teacher was close to the victims, all girls aged about 17, school principal Larisa Tsepovod told the RIA news agency.

"She worked in the school for 15 years and the events affected her very much ... she was the teacher in charge of these students."

Four other pupils at the school, attended by children aged between 7 and 17, were injured.

The deputy principal's death is being treated as suicide, the spokeswoman for the local prosecutor's office said.

A criminal investigation has opened, looking at possible violations of safety regulations in the 46-year-old building.

Many Soviet-era Russian schools and other public buildings are decaying after decades of neglect, though the Kremlin has pledged to renovate buildings in poor condition.