An accident at a Pittsburgh area elementary school sent 12 people to the hospital earlier this week. The accident occurred when a large pipe suspended from the ceiling of Shaler Area Elementary School's cafeteria fell, causing personal injury to four adults and eight students.

At the time of the accident the school's fourth graders were eating their lunch. When the pipe fell it pinned some of the students beneath it. As a result of the pipe's fall, hot water began to fall from the ceiling as well.

Of the eight students who were hurt in the incident, seven of them were taken to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Their injuries were apparently not life threatening as four of them were released and the three remaining are said to be in good condition.

Two of the four adults who were injured were transported to UPMC Passavant. Neither of them are currently hospitalized. Fortunately no one was killed in the incident.

The incident occurred two days before spring vacation was slated to begin. Due to the accident however, school was cancelled the next day and that break started a day earlier for students of the school.

Authorities are taking the accident very seriously. Following the accident an engineer was contacted to do a forensic examination of the accident site. He visited it with a detective from the district attorney's office as well as the Deputy District Attorney.

In addition, two gyms at the area's high school were also closed due to having similar equipment installed.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Shaler Area Elementary School pipe accident under investigation," Moriah Balingit, April 5, 2012