Plateau school collapse: Children killed and trapped in Nigeria

A school building collapsed in Plateau state, central Nigeria, killing scores of children and leaving more than 100 people trapped, local authorities said.

The Saint Academy in Jos, the state capital, collapsed on Friday morning while students were in class.

Students trapped under the rubble were crying out for help and parents were frantically searching for their children, AFP reported.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said “the exact death toll is still being confirmed.” Media reports said at least 17 students were killed.

More than 40 trapped students were rescued and taken to a local hospital, Nema said in a post on X.

Nigeria’s Punch newspaper reported that 17 people were killed, while AFP news agency quoted Red Cross spokesman Nuruddin Hussein Magaji as saying 21 people were killed.

The school is estimated to have more than 1,000 students.

Local resident Abel Huandai told the BBC that his friend’s son had been killed, adding: “The scale of the tragedy is horrifying.”

He said rescue workers and emergency authorities were rushing to free people trapped and were using excavators to dig through the rubble.

The cause of the collapse is unclear but residents said it occurred after three days of heavy rains in the Plateau area.

“I had barely entered the classroom five minutes before I heard the noise and then I found myself here,” injured student Uriah Ibrahim told AFP from hospital.

“There are a lot of students in the class and they are taking exams,” he said.

Resident Chika Obioha said he saw many dead bodies and dozens of people had been rescued.

“Everybody is pitching in to see if we can rescue more people,” he said.

Nigeria has experienced several major building collapses in recent years, with observers blaming poor construction, inferior materials and corruption.

In 2021, a high-rise building under construction in an affluent area of ​​Lagos collapsed, killing at least 45 people.