Death toll rises to 14 in Jos building collapse

A rescue team comprising the Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Nigerian Red Cross and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corpse (NSCDC) were able to recover 14 bodies from the rubble of a collapsed house in Jos, the state capital.

The combined team had on Monday evening recovered four bodies from the building, which fell at about 6pm, trapping many people.

On the resumption of the search and rescue yesterday morning, the team discovered six more bodies, including that of the owner of the two-storey apartment, Alhaji Kabiru Nalele, popularly known as ‘Sariki’ (king) within the environment.

It was gathered that 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 and others.

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.

One of the sympathisers at the site said: “Some neighbours, who came to the pharmacy to buy drugs, were among the people trapped in the building. Some of them died and some others that survived were rescued and rushed to the hospital.

Director of Search and Rescue, SEMA Mrs. Junni Bala, said: “The two-storey building located at Butcher Line, Dilimi in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State fell at about 6pm local time, trapping many. 

“Rescuers recovered four bodies on Monday night from the rubble before discovering six others on Tuesday. Four other people were critically injured in the disaster.”

Many of the sympathisers, who trooped to catch a glimpse of the collapsed building expressed anger at the failure of the state government to enforce strict regulations on residential and business buildings in the city centre.

But, the Jos Metropolitan Development Board (JMDB), the state government agency in charge of town planning, has ordered residents occupying any building in the city that has no government approval to vacate immediately.

The agency said it will utilise all available laws to embark on demolition of any building that has no government approval, those that have government approval and are badly constructed as well as those buildings that are structurally defective. 

Among those that trooped to the scene of the collapsed building yesterday was the Deputy Governor, Prof. Sunny Tyoden.