Nigeria school collapse: Eight dead after up to 100 children trapped inside building
Emergency services are scrambling to pull survivors out of the rubble in Lagos as thousands of people try to help with the rescue.
Wednesday 13 March 2019 20:05, UK
Eight people have died after up to 100 children were feared trapped when a building containing a primary school collapsed in Nigeria.
Emergency services have been scrambling to pull survivors out of the rubble in Lagos as thousands of people swarmed the site to try to help with the rescue effort.
The school had around 100 pupils and at least 37 people have been pulled alive from the debris, Lagos governor Akinwunmi Ambode said.
Mr Ambode offered condolences to bereaved families, but did not say how many had died.
He added that the school had been set up illegally and that buildings in the area were undergoing integrity testing.
Video showed a huge crowd cheer as one dust-covered child was taken out of the debris and put in an ambulance.
Ibrahim Farinloye, a spokesman for Nigeria's national emergency management agency, said: "It is believed that many people including children are currently trapped in the building.
"The third floor of the building is housing a private school in the area."
The four-storey building collapsed at around 10am local time (9am GMT), he said.
Nigeria, which has poor building regulation oversight, has suffered a number of building collapses.
The International Monetary Fund has previously said the perceived quality of Nigeria's infrastructure is "low".
In 2016, more than 100 people were killed when a church collapsed in southeastern Nigeria, while in Lagos that same year, a five-storey building under construction collapsed causing the deaths of at least 30 people.