At least 2 dead, 8 rescued after building collapses in northern Nigeria

By Ibrahim Garba Shuaibu

KANO, Nigeria (AA) - At least two people were killed and eight injured when a three-story building collapsed in northern Nigeria’s commercial city of Kano, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Wednesday.

Nura Abdullahi, coordinator of the Kano Territorial Office of NEMA, confirmed that two people had died and eight others had been rescued and taken to specialist hospitals for treatment.

“When the incident occurred, we mobilized our rescue teams to the scene and also deployed an excavator and payloader to search for people trapped inside the building," Abdullahi said.

The building collapsed Tuesday while additional stairs were being added as construction was ongoing.

"We called off the search operations after confirming that all the rubble had been thoroughly searched without finding anybody inside the collapsed building,” Abdullahi said.

"Our search and rescue operations team has concluded its primary assignment at the scene. I can confirm to you that the removal of rubble is going on.”

He said among the two people that died was an electricity worker who was electrocuted while trying to remove a wire from a utility pole.

He added that six people who sustained minor injuries had been treated at a hospital and discharged, while one person with multiple fractures is still receiving treatment.