208-year jail sentence over school collapse in Mexico quake Issued on: 15/07/2021 - 21:38 Nineteen children were among those killed when the school collapsed in the 2017 earthquake Mario VAZQUEZ AFP/File 2 min Mexico City (AFP) A Mexican court has sentenced a man who approved flawed construction work at a school where 26 people died in a 2017 earthquake to 208 years in prison, prosecutors said. Nineteen children were among those crushed to death when the private Rebsamen elementary school in the capital collapsed after the 7.1-magnitude quake. Juan Mario Velarde, described as the director responsible for works, approved the structural safety of the school without carrying out the necessary tests and despite construction irregularities, the Mexico City prosecutor's office said.