Video: Moment school collapses killing 22 students in Nigeria
A two-storey school collapsed in Nigeria on Tuesday, killing 22 people, as Saints Academy College in the Busa Buji area of North Central Plateau state collapsed shortly after the students, many of them aged 15 or younger, arrived.
A total of 154 students were inside the collapsed building, a police spokesman said, with 132 rescued and treated for injuries at various hospitals.
Rescue and health workers as well as security forces have been deployed to the scene, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
“To ensure prompt medical care, the government has instructed hospitals to prioritise treatment without documentation or payment,” Plateau State Commissioner of Information Moses Ashumez said in a statement.
The Saints Academy college in the north-central Plateau state's Busa Buji community collapsed shortly after pupils, many of whom were 15 years old or younger, arrived for classes.
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The state government blamed the tragedy on “the weak structure of the school and its location near a riverbank.”
Dozens of villagers gathered near the collapsed school building, some crying and others offering help, as excavators combed through the rubble.
Building collapses have become common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, with more than a dozen incidents recorded in the past two years. Authorities often blame such disasters on failure to enforce building safety regulations and poor maintenance.
