Several children killed after school collapse in Nigeria

Search and rescue efforts under way after school collapses in north-central Nigeria’s Plateau State.

Several children have been killed and dozens were trapped after a school building collapsed in north-central Nigeria, authorities have said.

The Saints Academy college in the Jos North district of Plateau State collapsed on Friday morning as students were in class.

A local television station reported at least 12 deaths on Friday, while a Red Cross spokesperson told the AFP news agency that at least 21 students were killed.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said rescue and health workers, as well as security forces, have been deployed at the scene. It said that “several students” had been killed.

Rescue workers tried to reach the victims with heavy machinery and images from the scene showed crowds gathering around a caved-in concrete building and heaps of debris.

“Approximately 120 people were trapped, with many evacuated,” Plateau Commissioner for Information Musa Ashoms said in a statement.

“To ensure prompt medical attention, the government has instructed hospitals to prioritise treatment without documentation or payment.”

The state government blamed the tragedy on the school’s “weak structure and location near a riverbank.” It urged schools facing similar issues to close down.

Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some weeping and others offering to help, as excavators combed through the debris. One woman was seen wailing and attempting to go closer to the rubble as others held her back.

With his mother at his hospital bedside, injured student Wulliya Ibrahim told AFP, “I entered the class not more than five minutes, when I heard a sound, and the next thing is I found myself here.”

“We are many in the class, we are writing our exams,” he said.

Chika Obioha, a resident at the scene, told AFP he saw at least eight bodies at the site and that dozens more had been injured.

“Everyone is helping out to see if we can rescue more people,” he said.

Building collapses are becoming common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, with more than a dozen such incidents recorded in the last two years.

Authorities often blame such disasters on a failure to enforce building safety regulations and on poor maintenance.