A SECONDARY school building has collapsed in Plateau States killing at least 12 persons and leaving dozens of others injured.
Activities at Saints Academy and its immediate environment in Busa Buji, Jos North, were disrupted on Friday morning when the school’s two-story building caved in on students and their teachers.
The collapse trapped more than 70 pupils, witnesses said, transforming a peaceful educational environment into a scene of chaos.
Panicked and desperate residents quickly descended on the scene to provide help as screams for help rent the air. They were joined by emergency workers to battle the rubble to rescue those trapped underneath.
So far, 12 people have been pulled out dead while dozens of others injured in the collapse have been rushed to nearby hospitals.
Some of those who have been rushed to the hospitals are in urgent need of blood transfusions as the hospitals battle to treat them.
Checks by this newspaper show that 26 people are receiving treatment at one of the hospitals, Our Lady of Apostles Hospital, where some of the victims were taken.
Four bodies have also been moved to the hospital’s mortuary.
The Bingham Hospital has received seven bodies and is providing medical care for 16 injured people.
Thirty-four injured persons are being treated at the Plateau Specialist Hospital; two of them sustained spinal cord injuries.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts are ongoing at the scene which is filled with the wailing of sirens from ambulances and and despairing parents eager to find out the fate of their children.
The Joint Security Task Force Operation Safe Haven has mobilised five vans and thirty soldiers to support the rescue efforts.
Emergency workers, supported by volunteers, security personnel, and members of the Red Cross, are using excavators to rescue pupils still trapped under the rubble.
Rescue operation is underway as security agencies and rescue operators battle with excavators to rescue students and teachers buried under the rubble.
The number of casualty figures has yet to be ascertained