Jos building collapse: Survivors recount ordeal, death toll rises

Scene of the collapse

Survivors of the storey building that collapsed in the Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State have revealed their state of mind as the building came down and buried them alive.

Their accounts came as rescue agencies and officials said the death toll had risen from four to 10, adding that efforts were still on to locate more victims.

The incident had occurred at Abu Naib Islamic School on Gero Road in the Bukuru area of the state on Sunday where the children were receiving Islamic lectures.

One of the survivors, Mamunat Mohammed, a 10-year-old girl, who was still receiving treatment at a hospital, said there was no sign that the building would come down.

She said, “We were in class on Sunday receiving Quranic lessons when I heard a loud noise. There was no time to know what happened before I found myself on this hospital bed. My waist is broken and my legs ache.

“When the building came down, I thought the world had come to an end.”

A mother of one of the victims, Mrs. Zuwabia Ibrahim, said her daughter, Amina Ibrahim, 10, left home at about 5pm on Sunday for the Quranic lessons, adding that the venue was not too far from their house in Bukuru.

She said, “About one hour thirty minutes later, we got a   call from our friend that my daughter’s school had collapsed. I immediately called my husband and we rushed to the scene, where we were told that our daughter was alive and had been rushed to a hospital. We later found out that she was badly injured.”

However, 12-year-old Ibrahim said fate prevented him from being in the school.

Ibrahim, who spoke while visiting one of his injured friends, said he was about to go to school, but something he could not explain held him.

“I thank Allah for sparing my life,” he said.

A teacher, Mr. Useni Ibrahim, who survived the incident, said the building being used as an Islamic school was an uncompleted building belonging to a secondary school, but used on weekends to tutor children on Islamic studies. He also confirmed that other teachers were injured.

Meanwhile, our correspondent gathered that the death toll had risen to 10.

A source in the Plateau State Specialists Hospital stated that two children who were rushed for treatment died on Monday , while three others   also died at a hospital in Bukuru.

The North Central Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Mangement Agency, Muhammad Abdulsalam, had said on Sunday that five persons died. punch