Officials say no one was harmed when a section of roof at a Surrey, B.C., elementary school crashed down late Friday afternoon, but the cause of the collapse remains a mystery.
Surrey School Board Chair Laurae McNally told ctvbc.ca on Saturday that the walls of Colebrook Elementary remain sturdy, and only the exterior of the building was affected.
"It was a strip of roof and the soffit that pulled apart from the main part of the roof and came down," she said. "The good news is that nobody was injured, there's no risk to anybody, and the walls are fine."
The strip is narrow but long, extending across two classrooms.
"We're very fortunate that there were no kids playing there, because kids do tend to play on the grounds even when school is out," McNally said.
A security guard was called in to watch the site around the clock until Monday morning, when a team of engineers will investigate the cause.
The school recently underwent a seismic upgrade, but staff members say they do not believe it was a factor.
