Children feared dead, trapped inside in Nigeria after 3-story school collapses - Fox News

Scores of children are feared dead or trapped inside after a three-story school building collapsed during school hours in Lagos, Nigeria, prompting frantic rescue efforts.

At least 40 people have now been pulled from the rubble as emergency responders attempt to remove those still trapped and care for the dead and injured.

Some witnesses estimated that there were as many as 100 children in the school building at the time of the collapse. The school was on the top floor of the building in Ita Faji on Lagos Island, Nigeria’s commercial capital and a city of some 20 million people.

So far it remains unclear how many children exactly have died or are still trapped. Local officials told BBC that they believe at least eight children died in the collapse, while dozens more were pulled out alive. Rescue efforts are expected to continue through the day and evening.

In this image taken from video rescue workers and emergency teams work at the scene of a building collapse in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday March 13, 2019. A three-story building has collapsed in Lagos, and rescuers rush to pull out scores of children thought to be inside. There was no immediate official word on numbers of casualties. (AP)

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“For now we don’t have any word on casualties as we are still busy with rescue work,” said Sani Datti, a spokesman with Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.

“It is believed that many people including children are currently trapped in the building,” another spokesperson for the agency told the BBC.

Hundreds of onlookers cheered the efforts of first responds as they stood in narrow streets and on rooftops of rusted, corrugated metal. Others volunteered in the rescue operations, jumping into the rubble with hacksaws and mallets in their hands.

Footage from the scene showed children being carried across the crowd to ambulances from the wreckage.

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Emergency services attend the scene after a school building collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday March 13, 2019. Rescue efforts are underway in Nigeria after a three-storey school building collapsed while classes were in session, with some scores of children thought to be inside at the time. (AP)

Nigeria has been suffering from frequent building collapses due to lack of building regulations that would ensure the safety of the buildings.

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Over 100 people died in 2016 after a church roof collapsed in south of Nigeria.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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