At least 16 students were killed on Friday when a school in central Nigeria collapsed on pupils taking exams, according to an AFP correspondent.
Trapped students were heard crying for help under the rubble after the Saint Academy school in Jos North district of Plateau State fell in on classrooms.
The Plateau State Government says 200 pupils were trapped in the school that collapsed in Busa Buji, Jos North Local Government Area of the state.
While emergency workers confirmed that 12 persons died, several others are still unaccounted for as of now.
But some of them have been rescued, the Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communication Musa Ashoms said on Friday evening.
“From what we have gathered, because it was an emergency situation, about 200 people were trapped in that collapsed building,” Ashoms said at the Saints Academy where rescue workers were searching for survivors in the heap of rubble.
“The emergency intervention has done a lot, and a lot of children have been evacuated to the hospitals. And we pray that at the end of the day, it’s going to end this way that we don’t lose a life.”
According to the commissioner, the school has a population of 400 pupils. But said 200 students were in the part of the building that collapsed.
While emergency workers confirmed that 12 persons died, several others are still unaccounted for as of now.
“Efforts have been made by NEMA, SEMA, and other security agencies to make sure that we find them alive and take them to the hospitals,” the commissioner said.
“And so far, we have gotten a number of them. We want to thank God that there was no examination today. The casualty figure would have been more than this.”
Ashom said the structure did not meet the standards and warned schools who have similar buildings to shut down.
“You can see that it is by the river bank and, from your eye evaluation, you know that it is not a very strong structure,” he said.
“We are calling on other schools that didn’t follow plans that have similar issues to close down in the interest of our state in the interest of our people, because we have established a committee to go around,” the commissioner said.
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