St Petersburg, Feb 16 (AP) Part of the roof and several floors of university building in Russia's second-largest city collapsed Saturday, but officials say there were no casualties.

The Emergencies Ministry said the collapse at the Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics took place as construction work was underway. An investigation into criminal violation of construction safety has been opened.

St Petersburg acting governor Alexander Beglov told journalists at the scene in the central city that 81 people were evacuated from the building.

"No victims, no injured," he said.

He said about 20 of those evacuated were foreign students attending a weekend class.

The school, known as ITMO University, is one of Russia's national research universities. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)