Haitians frustrated by rescue at collapsed school

Petionville: Emergency crews picked through the rubble of a collapsed school in Haiti on Sunday as an angry crowd demanded they be allowed to help search for victims of a disaster that killed at least 88 people.

Onlookers in this poor Port-au-Prince suburb cheered a group of men who slipped past police barriers and started chipping away at a hanging concrete slab before riot officers chased them away.

"We don't need money to do the work!" many chanted, angry over rumours that rescuers were working slowly to inflate their wages.

"Everybody is frustrated. We smell the bodies," said 25-year-old Emmane Petitehomme. "If they don't do something quickly, we may have to leave here for a few days."

Fortin Augustin, the preacher who owns and built College La Promesse, was arrested late Saturday and charged with involuntary manslaughter, police spokesman Garry Desrosier
said.

Augustin was being held at a police station in Haiti's capital while US rescuers searched for survivors of Friday's collapse of the three-story building, which normally holds 500 students and teachers.