Bella Ifasola
A two-storey school building on Friday morning – collapsed — leaving many students and teachers trapped with some reportedly injured in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria.
The school, Saint Academy located at the Busa Buji community in Jos North Local Government Area of the state collapsed on Friday morning around 8:30 am when while students were taking their third-term examinations.
It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse but residents said it came after three days of heavy rains in Plateau.
Residents and parents who had their wards in the school were said to have rushed to the incident site to ascertain their fate.
In a video published by local broadcaster, Channels Television, many residents were seen wailing while security men and emergency workers were busy trying to pull survivors from the rubble.
Mechanical diggers tried to rescue the victims while parents desperately looked for their children.
An AFP reporter saw five dead bodies in one hospital morgue and 11 in another. All were wearing school uniforms.
With his mother at his hospital bedside him, 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.
The National Emergency Management Agency said the two-story building housing Saint Academy collapsed killing “several students” without giving details.
“NEMA and other critical stakeholders are presently carrying out Search and Rescue operations,” it said.
A resident at the scene, Chika Obioha, 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.
The AFP correspondent said he saw 11 bodies in the morgue at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital and five dead taken into the mortuary at the Our Lady of Apostles Hospital in Jos.
At least 15 rescued and injured students were admitted, officials at the Our Lady of Apostles Hospital said.
Officials at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital did not comment.
Later on Friday, the state Commissioner for Information and communication, Hon Musa Ashom, said in a statement: “Current Situation as of 6:00 pm Friday evening, 154 people have been rescued from the debris. Sadly, 22 individuals have been confirmed deceased.
“Injured students and staff are receiving medical treatment at various hospitals across Jos. Breakdown of Hospital admissions and fatalities shows in Plateau State Specialist Hospital (PSSH) 39 hospitalized and 3 deaths.
“In Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) Hospital 32 hospitalized and 5 deaths. From Bingham University Teaching Hospital 55 hospitalized and 14 deaths.
“In Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) 6 hospitalized and 0 deaths. Total: 132 hospitalized and 22 deaths, a grand total of 154 victims.”
Ashoms, who visited the scene in the company of other commissioners, including that of secondary education, said that the school had a total population of about 400.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the commissioner said that part of the school that collapsed was accommodating about 200 students.
He said: “The Plateau State Government has expressed deep sadness over the tragic incident at Saint Academy Jos, where a building collapsed resulting in casualties and injured students and teachers still being evacuated to different hospitals within Jos.
“The government describes the incident as an avoidable tragedy, citing the school’s weak structure and unsafe location near a riverbank.
“However, we commend the efforts of NEMA, SEMA, Red Cross and security agencies in rescuing trapped children and transporting them to hospitals.”
Ashoms revealed that the government has instructed hospitals to prioritise treatment without documentation or payment.
“The Commissioner of Health has also ordered all major hospitals in Jos to attend to the victims,” he said.
“The government emphasises the importance of adhering to safety standards, making Executive Order 003 sacrosanct. Schools with similar issues are urged to close down, enabling the Jos Metropolitan Development Board to prevent future incidents.”
According to Ashoms, the collapsed school building, which was built on a waterlogged area, clearly did not meet construction standards.
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