A major, frantic rescue operation was under way today after a three-storey building that contained a primary school in Nigeria collapsed with at least 100 students inside.
Video from the scene in the country’s commercial capital Lagos on Wednesday showed at least one dust-covered child being carried out of the rubble.
Onlookers crowded around in the densely populated neighbourhood in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, cheered as the child was lifted out.;
The crowd again celebrated as another child was pulled from the wreckage. The two were among a dozen children rescuers said had been rescued so far.
Thousands of people swarmed the rescue site, with people standing in narrow streets and on rooftops of rusted, corrugated metal as a single yellow excavator scooped at the ruins.
A number of shirtless, barefoot men jumped in to offer assistance with hacksaws and mallets in hand.
“It is believed that many people including children are currently trapped in the building,” said Ibrahmi Farinloye, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency’s southwest region, adding that casualty figures were not yet available.
It is not yet clear how many children have been pulled from the rubble, and how many have survived.
