A total of 154 students were initially trapped in the rubble


Nigeria: At least 22 people, including students, have been confirmed dead after a two-storey school building collapsed in central Nigeria, according to the authorities, sending rescuers on a frantic search for more than 100 people trapped in the rubble.
The Saint Academy building in Plateau state’s Busa Buji community collapsed on Friday shortly after students, many of whom were 15 or younger, arrived for classes, the authorities said on Saturday.
A total of 154 students were initially trapped in the rubble, but police spokesman Alfred Alabo later said 132 of them had been rescued and were being treated for injuries in various hospitals.
The Associated Press news agency quoted Alabo as saying that 22 students were confirmed dead. An earlier report by Nigerian media had said at least 12 people were killed.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said in a Facebook post that 30 people remain in hospital. The rescue operation had ended and the site cleared, it said.
Rescue workers had tried to reach the victims using heavy machinery, and images from the scene showed crowds gathering around a caved-in concrete building and piles of rubble.
Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some weeping and others offering to help, as excavators combed through the debris from the part of the building that had caved in.
One woman was seen wailing and attempting to go closer to the rubble as others held her back.
NEMA said rescue and health workers as well as security forces had been deployed at the scene immediately after the collapse, launching a search for the trapped students.
“To ensure prompt medical attention, the government has instructed hospitals to prioritize treatment without documentation or payment,” Plateau state’s commissioner for information, Musa Ashoms, said in a statement.
The state government of Plateau blamed the tragedy on the school’s “weak structure and location near a riverbank”. It urged schools facing similar issues to shut down.
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, the use of substandard construction materials and poor maintenance.
In 2021, at least 45 people were killed when a high-rise building under construction collapsed in the upscale Ikoyi district in Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos.
In 2022, at least 10 people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in the Ebute-Metta area of Lagos.
Since 2005, at least 152 buildings have collapsed in Lagos, according to a South African university researcher investigating construction disasters.
SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

60 suspects arrested in Balochistan for illegal travel to Iran
- 13 hours ago

Gambling apps promotion: Notice issued to TikToker Iqra Kanwal
- 13 hours ago

Water level decreasing in Punjab's rivers: PDMA
- 12 hours ago

Death toll from rains, floods in Pakistan exceeds 900
- 13 hours ago

RFK Jr.’s alarming Senate hearing, briefly explained
- 12 hours ago

Defence and Martyrs Day observed with patriotic zeal
- 6 hours ago

PDMAs of Punjab, KP issue alerts about heavy rains
- 6 hours ago
Pakistan may experience internet disruption owing to submarine cable cuts
- 10 hours ago

Series schedule between Pakistan, South Africa released
- 12 hours ago
Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) observed with religious fervour in Pakistan
- 9 minutes ago
Trump signs order offering some tariff exemptions to countries with US trade deals
- 10 hours ago
Boat carrying flood victims capsizes in Multan; five dead
- 6 hours ago