[ad_1]
Nigerian authorities announced that 22 students were killed when a two-story school collapsed during a morning class in the country’s north-central region on Friday, and dispatched rescue workers to join a frantic search for more than 100 people trapped under the rubble..
The Saints Academy school in Busa Bugi community in Plateau state collapsed soon after students, many of whom were under the age of 15, arrived for classes..
The total number of students trapped under the rubble was initially put at 154, but state police spokesman Alfred Alabo later said 132 of them had been rescued and were being treated at several hospitals..
Twenty-two students were reported dead. Local media earlier reported that at least 12 students had died..
As excavators searched through the rubble of the collapsed part of the school, dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some crying and others offering help..
A woman was seen crying and trying to approach the ruins, but others stopped her.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said that in addition to security forces, rescue and health personnel were immediately deployed to the scene of the accident after the landslide occurred and began searching for trapped students..
“In order to ensure timely delivery of health services, the government has directed hospitals to give priority to those who do not have documents or fees for treatment,” Plateau State Commissioner for Information Moussa Achumus said in a statement.
The government blamed the school tragedy on “poor construction and location close to the riverbank” and urged schools facing similar problems to close..
Building collapses are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, with more than a dozen such incidents in the past two years. Authorities often blame such disasters on a failure to enforce building safety rules and poor maintenance..
[ad_2]
Source link
