A student is reported to be in stable condition after falling at a vocational school in Santiago de Cuba

16-year-old student Gerle Díaz Masó, originally from the municipality of San Luis, is reported to be in critical but stable condition after falling from the second floor of the Antonio Maceo Pre-University Vocational Institute of Exact Sciences (IPVCE) in Santiago de Cuba.

According to a post by Aris Arias Batalla on Facebook, the young man was injured on the night of Sunday, April 27, while attempting to evade intruders who broke into the educational center, which reportedly lacked security measures.

During the escape, the student jumped from the second to the first level of the building, causing severe injuries to himself.

The teenager was immediately transferred to the Dr. "Antonio María Béguez César" Children's Hospital, where he is receiving specialized medical care.

According to her mother, Yanisleydis Masó Estable, the young man is on assisted breathing to avoid stressing his vital organs, and so far, he has not shown any fever as they wait to see how he evolves in the coming hours.

The initial reports of the incident, shared by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on his Facebook profile, indicated that the event may have been triggered by a group of young people from the San Juan neighborhood, who, reportedly armed with knives and machetes, stormed the educational institution seeking revenge after a prank previously carried out by some students at the center.

According to testimonies gathered by Mayeta, during the altercation, a student attempted to escape from the aggressors by climbing onto the roof of a building, from where he would have fallen, sustaining serious injuries to his head, mouth, and nose.

Another version suggests that one of the intruders attacked the young man in his bedroom, injuring him with a knife and throwing him from a considerable height.

Witnesses stated that it was his own colleagues who helped him and took him to the street, where he was immediately attended to by an ambulance that was passing nearby.

He also reiterated that there are complaints regarding the inadequate security conditions at the school, aggravated by prior incidents of unauthorized access that were not properly controlled.

In a later update, the journalist reported that the school was taken over by military personnel and forensic vehicles, who are investigating the exact circumstances of the incident.

The Provincial Directorate of Education in Santiago de Cuba confirmed that on the night of Sunday, April 27, several individuals burst into the educational center, causing moments of tension and alarm among the students.

Frequently asked questions about the incident at the vocational school in Santiago de Cuba