At least 21 people, mostly students, have been reported de@d after a school building collapsed on Friday, July 12, in Jos, a Red Cross official said.
About 71 others are receiving treatment in hospitals for varying degrees of injuries, Nurudeen Hussaini Magaji, the secretary of Red Cross in Plateau state said.
The two-storey building housing Saint Academy collapsed at about 9:00am, when students were writing their end of term examinations.
Confirming the casualties, Plateau State Secretary, Red Cross Society of Nigeria, Nuruddeen Hussain Magaji, said after a joint search and rescue operations as well as evacutaion, some casualty figures were recorded.
“We recorded 21 fat@lities, and 69 injuries already in admission at various hospitals,” he said.
Locals who visited some of the hospitals reported that some of the de@d bodies were deposited at Our Lady of Apostles Hospital, Jos, while dozens of other injured pupils and students are admitted for treatment.
Similarly, at the Bengham University Teaching Hospital, de@d bodies were deposited at the mortuary, while many other survivors with various degrees of injuries were in admission for treatment.
Many people have been trooping to donate blood at the hospital.
Trapped students were heard crying for help under the rubble of the collapsed building.
Mechanical diggers tried to rescue the victims while parents desperately looked for their children.
Volunteers, including the team of Red Cross of Nigeria, staff of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and those of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), have been carrying out search and rescue operations, as several machines were busy demolishing the remaining part of the collapsed building.
Locals also made efforts to help as video shows them using shovels to dig out students buried under the rubble.
Some of the wounded students are reportedly in critical conditions.
”The situation is pathetic and tragic. I went to two hospitals where I saw 16 de@d bodies deposited at the mortuaries and also some injured students,” an eyewitness, Muhammad Shitu, told TRT Afrika.
”All the bodies I saw were of students. The situation is too terrible. Those who survived have lost excess blood, and people are rushing to donate blood,” Shitu added.
An injured student Wulliya Ibrahim told AFP: “I entered the class not more than five minutes, when I heard a sound, and the next thing is I found myself here.”
“We are many in the class, we were writing our exams,” he said.
The National Emergency Management Agency said the building collapsed k!lling “several students” without giving details.
“NEMA and other critical stakeholders are presently carrying out Search and Rescue operations,” it said.
A resident at the scene Chika Obioha told AFP he saw at least eight bodies at the site and that dozens more had been injured.
See a video below.
Breaking‼️
BLOOD DONORS NEEDED IN JOS!
BLOOD DONORS NEEDED IN JOS!
BLOOD DONORS NEEDED IN JOS!
Are you near Ola or Bingham hospital in Jos? Help‼️
🎥 A child being rescued from school building that fell today in Jos💔
pic.twitter.com/J6z1ZGMpxq
— Elle🌺 (@sweetsixtien) July 12, 2024
