A 17-year-old girl died at the Eden Park Secondary School, Johannesburg, after a classmate pulled a chair out from under her, Gauteng police said on Wednesday.

They alleged that she was in class and as she was about to sit down, one of the learners took the chair [out from under her] and she fell," Lt-Col Katlego Mogale said.

"She was taken to the sick bay and was certified dead by paramedics."

The incident happened on Monday and was being investigated by Eden Park police.

Further information was not immediately available.

Neither the school's principal nor Gauteng education department spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane were immediately available for comment.