22 confirmed dead in Jos school building collapse

A horrific catastrophe hit the Plateau state capital, Jos as a two-story school collapsed, killing 22 students.

The Saints Academy college in north-central Plateau state’s Busa Buji town collapsed just after students, many of whom were 15 years old or younger, arrived for class in the morning.

According to Plateau police spokesman Alfred Alabo, 154 students were trapped, with 132 being rescued and treated for injuries in various hospitals. Twenty-two students were killed.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency reported that rescue and health professionals, as well as security forces, had been deployed to the scene.

“To ensure prompt medical attention, the government has instructed hospitals to prioritise treatment without documentation or payment,” Plateau state’s commissioner for information Musa Ashoms said in a statement.

The state authorities blamed the incident on the school’s “weak structure and location near a riverbank”

It recommended schools dealing with similar challenges to close down.

Dozens of residents gathered near the school, some weeping and others offering assistance as excavators sifted through the debris.

Building collapses are growing more regular in Nigeria with over a dozen instances reported in the past two years.

Authorities sometimes blame these disasters on a failure to enforce building safety requirements and poor maintenance.