The World - News from Dec. 6, 1988

At least 50 students died and scores were injured in a stampede prompted by the mistaken belief that their school building was about to collapse, hospital officials in Yaounde, Cameroon, said. About 15,000 students at the private Monthe secondary school panicked after a strange noise was heard, survivors said. A rumor quickly circulated that the six-story building, still under construction, was going to collapse. Some students trampled one another trying to escape, and others jumped from windows, witnesses said. Rumors that the building is unsafe have circulated since classes started in September. However, it recently passed a government inspection.