LAGOS (Reuters) - At least one person was killed and dozens of children were among those feared trapped after a four-storey building containing a primary school collapsed in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos on Wednesday.

Adeshina Tiamiyu, general manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, said that the agency had recorded one death so far in the disaster, and had rescued nearly 50 people.

“We will be able to give total figures in the morning after we have cleared to the ground floor,” Tiamiyu said.

Workers on top of the rubble shoveled debris away as thousands of people swarmed around the site to watch, many of them angry or distraught. Police, ambulances, Red Cross workers, fire trucks and a fork lift were on the scene.

Residents said around 100 children had attended the school, which was on the top levels of the building.

A Reuters reporter saw a boy of 10 being pulled from the rubble, covered in dust but with no visible injuries, and the crowd erupted into cheers as another child was pulled out.

A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency’s southwest region said many people, including children, were believed to be trapped.

Lagos Governor Akinwuni Ambode visited the site and offered condolences to bereaved families. Ambode said the school had been set up illegally and that buildings in the area had been undergoing structural testing prior to the accident.

The collapsed building is in the Ita-faji area of Lagos island, which was the original heart of the lagoon city before it expanded onto the mainland.

A woman reacts at the site of a collapsed building containing a school in Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos, Nigeria March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

One bereaved relative, Bose Adeshida, said she had two nieces, aged 11 and 4, who attended the school. The elder child, Amoke, died and her younger sister was being treated for head injuries, Adeshida said.

It was not clear if her dead niece, who had attended the school since the age of 2, was the same person cited by the Lagos emergency agency as having died in the collapse.

Adeshida, whose younger sister was the mother of the children, said she was angry because people had complained about the building for the last 12 years.

She said the site had been marked for demolition but developers repainted it and rented out the space.

“It is expensive in that area. That’s why people stay in a building like that,” she said.

Local resident Yomi Olaniyi, 42, said four buildings had collapsed in the area in the past few years.

Outside the hospital where people taken out of the building were taken for treatment, anxious relatives sobbed and ran toward ambulances as they arrived, hoping their loved ones were inside. Some fell to their knees with tears streaming down their faces.

A Google photograph of the collapsed building from early 2017 shows no sign of a school inside. The fourth storey only had the words “Olulade Villa (Psalm 27)” painted across its balcony.

Presidency Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement he was “extremely saddened” by the building collapse.

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Building collapses are frequent in Nigeria, where regulations are poorly enforced and construction materials are often substandard.

In 2016, more than 100 people were killed when a church came down in the southeast, and in Lagos the same year, a five-storey building collapsed, killing at least 30 people.

A floating school built to withstand storms and floods also collapsed in Lagos in 2016, though no injuries were reported.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Deaths confirmed in Lagos school collapse

At least 10 people have died and many more are feared trapped after a building containing a school collapsed in the Nigerian city of Lagos.

The school, which was on the top floor of the four-storey building in Ita Faji on Lagos Island, had more than 100 pupils, a rescue official told the BBC.

About 40 pupils had been pulled out alive, the official said.

The building had been identified as "distressed" and listed for demolition, Lagos building officials told the BBC.

The collapse happened at about 10:00 local time (09:00 GMT). There were frantic scenes at the site as rescuers and local men searched for survivors, and family members crowded the area in the hope of finding their loved ones alive.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Eyewitness says "everybody had to run for their lives"

The collapsed building was a residential block containing a number of apartments as well as the school, residents and rescue officials at the scene told the BBC.

Emergency teams pulled several injured pupils from the rubble, but many worried parents at the scene were unable to find their children, while others went to a local hospital to look for theirs.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption It Is not clear how many children remain trapped

Men from the local area were assisting rescuers but large crowds of people were hindering the rescue operation.

Mohammed Muftau, a local resident who witnessed the collapse, told the BBC that the building had been cracking for long time and that complaints had been raised about it.

The Lagos State Building Control Agency confirmed to the BBC that the building had been marked and listed for demolition. It is not unusual for buildings to collapse in Nigeria; materials are often sub-standard and the enforcement of regulations is lax.

In September 2014, 116 people died when a six-storey building collapsed in Lagos during a service given by a celebrity televangelist. And in 2016, more than 100 people died when the roof of a church in Uyo, in the south of Nigeria, caved in.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Rescuers were working frantically to free those trapped under the rubble

At the Lagos Island General Hospital, there was a scene of chaos as parents and family members scrambled after every ambulance that arrived to see if it contained a loved one. Many of the victims brought in were children in school uniforms.

Visiting the hospital, the Lagos state deputy governor, Idiat Oluranti Adebule, offered condolences to the families of the victims and called for calm.

"We plead for their understanding to allow the rescue team to do their work... so that the medical team can take prompt and immediate action as soon as the patients are brought in," she told the BBC.

President Muhammadu Buhari offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

"It touches one to lose precious lives in any kind of mishap, particularly those so young and tender," he said. "May God grant everyone affected by this sad incident fortitude and succour."

Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so please contact us by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:</s>At lease eight students were killed and many feared trapped on Wednesday after a building that housed a school collapsed in Nigeria’s Lagos, BBC reported. The school had more than 100 students, rescue officials said.

Lagos Governor Akinwunmi Ambode confirmed that there had been some casualties in the building collapse, and 25 people have been rescued, Africanews reported. Ambode also said that the school had been set up illegally in that building.

Rescue personnel have pulled out several children from the debris. The cause of the collapse is yet to be ascertained.

Building collapses are not uncommon in the country where the administration is lenient in its enforcement of rules. In 2016, more than 100 people were killed when a church collapsed in Uyo town in Nigeria. In 2014, at least 116 people had died when a six-storey building collapsed in Lagos.</s>At least 10 children were among scores of people missing Wednesday after a four-storey building collapsed in Lagos, with rescuers trying to reach them through the roof of the damaged structure.

The children were attending a nursery and primary school on the top floor of the residential building when the structure collapsed.

Police said they believed scores of people were trapped under the rubble.

The incident took place near Itafaji market on Lagos Island in Nigeria's economic capital at around 10:00 am (0900 GMT).

In chaotic scenes, panicked parents, local residents and shocked onlookers rushed to the area as police, firemen and medics staged a massive rescue operation.

It was not immediately clear how many people were inside at the time of the collapse, nor were there any figures for the tally of dead or injured.

"We are still trying to find out how many are trapped inside," said police officer Seun Ariwyo, who added that the number was probably scores.

He said "at least 20 have been brought out" but did not say whether they were alive or dead.

A young man helping rescue efforts who gave his name only as Derin said "at least 10 children" were trapped inside but "thought to be alive."

An AFP reporter at the scene saw at least eight people pulled from the wreckage, including a small boy with blood on his face.

Covered in dust, he was alive but unconscious and appeared to be badly hurt.

One local resident who witnessed the moment of collapse said there was no warning.

"We were smoking outside when the building just collapsed," Olamide Nuzbah told AFP in pidgin English.

As rescuers worked furiously to reach those inside, distraught parents begged them to find their children.

"Please, save my child, save my child!" wept one traumatised mother whose seven-year-old daughter was trapped inside, as people tried in vain to console her.

School bags, toys and clothes could be seen among the piles of rubble as a bulldozer tried to clear a path through some of the wreckage to help the rescue efforts.

As the day wore on, an AFP correspondent saw several children being brought out, at least one of whom appeared to be dead.

Elsewhere, hundreds of local residents tried to help, passing water and helmets through to dust-covered rescuers working tirelessly to sift through the rubble, some of whom appeared to be distressed.

Many locals told AFP that the building, which was in an advanced state of disrepair, had been "earmarked" for demolition by the authorities in Lagos state.

Lagos, which has a population of 20 million people and serves as Nigeria's economic capital, is made up of a collection of islands.

One of them is Lagos Island, a densely-populated area which is one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods.

It is characterised by its Afro-Brazilian architecture, a style brought over by thousands of freed slaves who headed back home after decades working the plantations in Brazil.

Despite efforts to renovate the area, a large number of buildings remain abandoned or in a state of disrepair which have been taken over by families or businesses, despite being dilapidated and unsafe.

Building collapses are tragically common in Nigeria, where building regulations are routinely flouted.

In September 2014, 116 people died -- 84 of them South Africans -- when a six-storey building collapsed in Lagos where a celebrity televangelist was preaching.

An inquiry found it had structural flaws and had been built illegally.

And two years later, at least 60 people were killed when the roof collapsed at a church in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, in the east of the country.</s>LAGOS, Nigeria — Three-story building collapses in Lagos, Nigeria, and rescuers rush to pull out scores of children thought to be inside.</s>A three-storey building located in Itafaaji area of Lagos Island, collapsed on Wednesday, March 13, 2019; with early reports suggesting that some primary school pupils and scores of residents have been trapped in the rubble.

It was gathered that the Primary School is located on the top floor of the building, which is reported to be a residential building with several apartments.

AFP reports that at least 10 primary school pupils are still trapped in the rubble, at the time of filing this.

According to reports, about 100 pupils are still trapped and scores have been rushed to the general hospital in Marina, at the time of filing this report.

Emergency and rescue teams are currently at the scene of the incident, Pulse has learnt.

Building collapses are common in Lagos, Nigeria's most populous city and commercial capital.

Lagos Island, like other suburbs in Lagos, is littered with old, poorly maintained structures, most of whom would not pass basic structural engineering tests.

Pulse correspondents on the ground report that there are about 150 pupils in the school. 30 of this number had ventured out for sporting activities when the collapse occurred.

So far, 4 of the pupils have been rescued with 2 said to have appeared lifeless.

Pulse will be updating this story subsequently, as we are headed to the site of the collapse for the rest of the story.</s>Three-story building collapses in Lagos, Nigeria, and rescuers rush to pull out scores of children thought to be inside

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Three-story building collapses in Lagos, Nigeria, and rescuers rush to pull out scores of children thought to be inside.</s>LAGOS (Reuters) - As many as 100 children and many others were feared trapped on Wednesday after a building containing a primary school collapsed in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos.

A Reuters reporter at the scene saw a boy of 10 being pulled from the rubble covered in dust but with no visible injuries. A crowd erupted into cheers as another child was pulled from the wreckage. The two were among eight children residents said had been rescued so far.

Workers on top of the rubble shovelled debris away as thousands of people swarmed around the rescue site — dozens watching from rooftops and hundreds more packed into the surrounding streets.

“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.

Residents of the area said around 100 children attended the school, which was on the third floor of the building.

At the site, many people were shouting and screaming. A fight almost broke out as anger at the collapse boiled over.

In the crowd’s midst stood ambulances, fire trucks and a fork lift. Workers from the Red Cross and police were on hand.

The building was in the Ita-faji area of Lagos island, the original heart of the lagoon city before it expanded onto the mainland.

Nigeria is frequently hit by building collapses, with weak enforcement of regulations and poor construction materials often used. In 2016, more than 100 people were killed when a church came down in southeastern Nigeria.

In Lagos that same year, a five-storey building still under construction collapsed, killing at least 30 people.

A floating school built to withstand storms and floods was also brought down in Lagos in 2016, though nobody was reported injured.</s>LAGOS - Many people including children were feared trapped on Wednesday after a building containing a school collapsed in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos, an emergency agency spokesman said, as rescue efforts began. Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency's southwest region, said there was no immediate information on any casualties.

"It is believed that many people including children are currently trapped in the building," he said.

"The third floor of the building is housing a private school in the area," said Farinloye, adding that the three-storey building came down at around 10 a.m. local time.

Workers on top of the rubble shovelled debris away as thousands of people swarmed around the rescue site -- dozens watching from rooftops and hundreds more packed into the surrounding streets, according to a Reuters reporter.

The building was in the Ita-faji area of Lagos island, the original heart of the lagoon city before it expanded onto the mainland.

Nigeria is frequently hit by building collapses, with weak enforcement of regulations and poor construction materials often used. In 2016, more than 100 people were killed when a church came down in southeastern Nigeria.

In Lagos that same year, a five-storey building still under construction collapsed, killing at least 30 people.

A floating school built to withstand storms and floods was also brought down in Lagos in 2016, though nobody was reported injured.</s>LAGOS (Reuters) - Seven children have been rescued from the wreckage of a building that collapsed in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos on Wednesday, residents said.

The building housed a school with about 100 pupils, they added.
A building in Lagos, Nigeria, collapses, killing ten people and leaving more than 100 others trapped under the rubble.