A school in north-central Nigeria collapsed during classes on Friday morning, initially trapping about 154 students and setting off a frantic search for others trapped in the rubble. Officials said 22 people were killed.
The two-storey Saints Academy College in Busa-Buji area of Plateau State collapsed shortly after many students aged under 15 arrived for classes.
Plateau police spokesman Alfred Arabo later said 132 students had been rescued and were being treated for injuries in several hospitals. Local media had earlier reported that at least 12 people had been killed.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said rescue teams, medical personnel and security forces were dispatched to the scene immediately after the collapse and had begun searching for the trapped students.
“To ensure speedy medical attention, the government has directed hospitals to prioritise treatment even for those without documentation or payment,” Plateau’s information director, Musa Ashoms, said in a statement.
The state government blamed the tragedy on the school’s “weak structure and location close to the riverbank” and called for schools facing similar problems to be closed.
Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some crying and others offering to help, as excavators shoveled away rubble.
A woman was seen crying and screaming as others tried to hold her back and get closer to the rubble.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is a hotbed of building collapses, with more than 10 recorded in the past two years, and authorities often blame the disasters on a lack of building safety regulations and poor maintenance.
