Search and rescue efforts continue following the collapse of a school in Plateau State in north-central Nigeria.
Several children have died and dozens are trapped after a school building collapsed in north-central Nigeria, authorities said.
Saints Academy School in Jos North district of Plateau State collapsed on Friday morning while students were in class.
A local television channel reported at least 12 dead on Friday, while a Red Cross spokesman told AFP news agency that at least 21 students were killed.
Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said rescue and health workers, as well as security forces, had been deployed to the scene. It added that “several students” had been killed.
Rescue workers tried to reach victims with heavy machinery and images from the scene showed crowds gathered around a collapsed concrete building and piles of rubble.
“About 120 people were trapped and many were evacuated,” Plateau Information Commissioner Musa Ashoms said in a statement.
“To ensure prompt medical care, the government has ordered hospitals to prioritize treatment without documentation or payment.”
The state government blamed the school's “weak structure and location near a river bank” for the tragedy and urged schools facing similar problems to close.
Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some crying and others offering to help, as excavators sifted through the rubble. One woman was seen crying and trying to get close to the debris as others held her down.
With his mother by his side in hospital, injured student Wulliya Ibrahim told AFP: “I entered the classroom not more than five minutes later when I heard a sound, and the next thing I know I was here.”
“There are a lot of us in the class, we are taking our exams,” he said.
Resident Chika Obioha told AFP that he saw at least eight bodies at the scene and that dozens more had been injured.
“Everyone is helping to see if we can rescue more people,” he said.
Building collapses are becoming common in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, with more than a dozen such incidents recorded in the past two years.
Authorities often blame these disasters on a lack of enforcement of building safety standards and poor maintenance.
