'I was just sitting and praying'

Pupils have been describing their terror as parts of their school in the US state of Alabama collapsed under the force of Thursday's deadly tornado.

Cars in the school parking lot were badly damaged in the tornado

As warnings of the approaching bad weather arrived, staff and pupils were told to gather in hallways for safety and were about to be sent home.

But the lights went out and sirens wailed, as the storm approached.

The school went dark, and roofs caved in. A local journalist said the building looked as if a bomb had hit it.

Some people were left trapped for hours as rescuers searched the rubble for survivors.

'Blood on their faces'

Pupil Erin Garcia said the warnings came at 1100 local time (1700 GMT).

There was a really loud wind and I was being hit in the face with dirt and other debris... I opened my eyes to see that there was no building about a foot to my left, just debris. Pupil Nathan Dow

They were to be sent home at 1300, she said, but the lights went out when they were still in the building.

"I was just sitting there praying the whole time," she told the Associated Press news agency.

Though the hallway she was in was unaffected by the storm, she saw confusion elsewhere.

"People didn't know where to go. They were trying to lead us out of the building. I kept seeing people with blood on their faces," she said.

Nathan Dow was in the hallway at Enterprise High School that collapsed, "a foot away from where it all came down," he told the BBC.

"When it hit, my ears popped and the power went out... The next thing I knew, there was a really loud wind and I was being hit in the face with dirt and other debris.

"When it stopped, I could see light and I opened my eyes to see that there was no building about a foot to my left, just debris. It was by the grace of God that it missed me," he said.

'Wind and suction'

Another pupil, Caleb Westley, told the BBC the damage could have been even worse.

It looks like a bomb hit it - this is the worst damage I've ever seen, even worse than hurricane damage Danny Tindell Photographer

"The tornado came through and the roof came down on us," he said.

"Luckily it was built out of cinder blocks so the walls held up and everything, but a lot of the exterior bricks came in and hit some of the people around."

Parent Mike Shroades had just arrived to pick up his daughter Brooke when the tornado struck, and saw police rush into the school shouting "it's coming".

"Debris was everywhere. People were screaming. You could feel your body moving from the wind and suction," he said, quoted by the local newspaper Enterprise Ledger.

It took Mr Shroades 30 minutes to find Brooke, who was hiding in a cubby hole on the other side of the school.

"I was in tears," he said.

"It was terrible. She just yelled 'Daddy'. I just cried and hugged her."

Local TV reporter Deirdre Turner told the BBC that the tornado tracked down the street in Enterprise that the high school is on, destroying houses, the school and a former peanut factory.

"The levels of the buildings have been completely destroyed, there is debris, there are scattered power lines, the cars have been turned over," she said.

"It's just a really unsafe area to be in right now."

Local photographer Danny Tindell told the paper the school "looks like a bomb hit it. This is the worst damage I've ever seen. Even worse than hurricane damage".