At least 21 students have died in Nigeria after their school building collapsed during an exam. 69 were also injured, the Red Cross reports. It is not clear how the tragedy could happen. However, such collapses are not uncommon in the West African country.
The disaster unfolded in the capital of the central Plateau state, Jos. The two-storey building of the Saint Academy collapsed on Friday while students were sitting for an exam. According to the Red Cross, “21 people were killed and 69 injured”. They have been admitted to different hospitals
At the site of the collapse, chaos reigns as rescue workers search for survivors with excavators and parents desperately search for their children.
“I entered the classroom and within five minutes I heard a noise. The next thing I know, I was here,” said Wulliya Ibrahim, one of the injured students, with his mother next to his hospital bed. “There were a lot of us, we were doing our exams,” he continued. At least 15 students were rescued from the rubble and hospitalized, according to the local Bingham University Hospital.
Not the first time
It is not clear how the building collapsed. According to local residents, three days of heavy rainfall preceded the disaster. Nigeria is the most densely populated country in Africa, and buildings collapse there regularly. This is due to lax enforcement of building regulations, negligence and the use of poor quality materials.
In 2021, at least 45 people were killed when a building under construction collapsed in the upscale Ikoyi district of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital. At least 152 buildings have collapsed in Lagos alone since 2005.