Jos building collapse: NEMA confirms 14 dead

Fourteen people were yesterday confirmed dead in a three-storey building collapse Monday on Butcher line in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Reports show that an Islamic funeral prayer was yesterday morning held for nine of the victims by the Chief Imam of Jos Central Mosque, Sheikh Lawal Adam, before their remains were buried at the Zaria road burial ground in Jos.

The National Emergency Management Agency’s Head of Search and Rescue, for North Central, Nurudeen Musa, said 12 people had died from the incident; while four were injured and hospitalised. He said two of the injured persons were in the intensive care.

Musa said the operation had been mopped up after the team recovered the remains of one Mubarak; a welder whom residents said was working on the first floor of the building when it collapsed.

The storey building which had served as a pharmacy and residential apartments was owned by a popular Jos businessman who owns pharmacy outlets in the city, Alhaji Rufai Nalele.

Victims of the building collapse include members of the Nalele family one of which was the family patriarch, Kabiru Nalele as well as those working on the building when it collapsed. Governor Simon Bako Lalong had on Tuesday vowed to identify and demolish all unstable buildings and houses in the city and urged communities to follow laid down procedures in construction.

Lalong, represented by his deputy, Sonni Gwanle Tyoden, at the scene of the incident, commiserated with the Jos north community.

Credit: Daily Trust