TORONTO (AP) -- A Toronto theater being demolished partly collapsed Monday onto a school next door, killing one man, trapping at least one other person and injuring more than a dozen people.
Workers had been tearing down the historic Uptown Theater when it crumbled at 10:30 a.m. One of its walls fell on the roof of the Yorkville English Academy, where classes were under way. The school teaches English as a second language.
``It just collapsed. The wall beside us fell in on top of our building,'' said teacher John Harrington, who had been instructing about a dozen students at the time.
A man was pronounced dead at the scene and 14 other people were taken to hospitals, including two children with crushed legs, said Bruce Farr, director of Toronto Emergency Medical Services. Most of the injuries were not life-threatening, he said.
Simone Serra, a student who arrived in Canada two weeks ago from Brazil, clutched her daughter Stephanie, 11, who was wrapped in a blanket after both escaped the collapse.
``I'm afraid because there are some people there that I know. I want news about them,'' Serra said.
Police dogs sniffed for signs of one person authorities believed was trapped in the rubble. Dogs and firefighters also were digging through debris to reach a car crushed in an alley.
``It's going to take an immense amount of time to get into the rubble and shore it up,'' Toronto Fire Chief Bill Stewart said, adding that five construction workers in the theater were among the wounded.
Police Chief Julian Fantino said ``the situation is precarious at best and dangerous for the rescue operation people.''
He said the busy nature of the site's downtown location made it difficult to determine exactly how many people may have been caught in the collapse.
``My daughter called me right after it happened and said the roof had collapsed,'' said Helen Wanger, a parent of an injured student who was taken to a hospital.
The Uptown Theater, which opened in 1920 as a movie theater and a stage venue, is considered a historic site and was the subject of an unsuccessful campaign to stop its demolition.
In May, the company Famous Players sold the building for $7.5 million to Piagga Ltd., a developer with plans to build a 50-story apartment building on the site.
Toronto city councilor Kyle Rae, who represents the ward where the theater is located, told reporters he received a telephone call Sunday from a Piagga employee expressing ``concerns over safety problems.'' Rae did not elaborate.
The Uptown was one of three theaters that Famous Players decided to shut down rather than follow government directives to make them wheelchair accessible.
Piagga did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
