Way ahead on tragic school building collapse in Haiti

When a church school collapsed in Haiti on Nov 7, trapping scores of students under slabs of concrete and rubble, Reuters was on the scene before rescuers arrived. Over the next three days, Reuters was consistently ahead of our main competitors as the toll rose rapidly, and as thousands of parents, onlookers, volunteers and U.N. peacekeepers descended on the collapsed building to try to rescue trapped children. Reuters first report on fatalities was at least two hours ahead of Associated Press and 12 hours ahead of the competition when the body count rose above 90. Reuters was a day ahead on the arrest of the minister who owned the school and had apparently built much of it himself.