National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed that about 14 bodies have been recovered so far underneath the rubble of a building collapse in Jos Plateau State capital.
Nurudeen Musa, Head, Search and Rescue Operations at the North-Central office of NEMA, told journalists the three-storey building located at Delimi Community of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State and belonging to one Rufai Kabiru, collapsed in the late hours of Monday, killing Kabiru and other people.
Musa said, “As of this afternoon, we recorded 14 deaths and four persons severely injured in the collapsed building.”
He added that the injured were currently receiving treatment at the Plateau Specialist Hospital and Bingham University Teaching Hospital.
The owner of the apartment was not living in the building with his family. He only came visiting as usual, when the building collapsed, killing him, his two wives. One of the wives, Rukayya Salisu Nalele, was pregnant.
It was learnt that the ground floor of the building was being used as shops and the other two floors were used as residential. The ground floor housed a pharmaceutical store that deals in retail and wholesale drugs.
The pharmaceutical store is owned and managed by Nalele’s two daughters. Some neighbours, who came to the pharmacy to buy drugs, were among the people trapped in the building.