1 die, 49 students escape as classroom block collapses in Yobe
By Muhammad Maitela, Damaturu
At least one female student has been confirmed dead when a classroom block containing 50 students collapsed on Thursday in Yobe State.
Five of the students however sustained injuries when the classroom block containing two classes collapsed at about 12:30pm at Government Girls Senior Secondary School Potiskum.
A source told The Syndicate that there were no teachers when the incident occurred, which largely affected the corridor of the building where the affected students were loitering.
‘‘One girl from Fika local government has been confirmed dead, while others sustained injuries. Some people are saying only five students were injured and are receiving medical attention in a hospital,’’ the source added.
Our reporter gathered that the body of the deceased has been released to her family for burial.
The injured students are Fatima Bala Adamu, who is unconscious as at the time of filing the report, Fatima Abba Idris, Hafsat Ahmed, Fatima Ibrahim, and Hafsat Abubakar Maina.
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Bukar Aji Bukar, has confirmed the report.
‘‘There were about 50 students in both classes, the two classes contained about 25 students each. They were in session and they are SS2 students.
‘‘Actually, what happened was that a block of classroom, which contained two classrooms came down at the corridors, and unfortunately, five of our students were affected.
‘‘One of them gave up (died) along the line, and four of them were in good condition, according to the medical doctor who was in the hospital. We visited them and actually, they were traumatised.
‘‘We are now expecting a report from the school directly so that we will immediately inform the professional ministry handling the building (Ministry of Housing). They are the ones to tell us what happened, and take measures to prevent such incident in the future,’’ he said.
