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13 killed in Nigeria building collapse
JOS, Nigeria, July 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Thirteen people in central Nigeria
died after a three-storey residential building collapsed after torrential
rain, emergency workers said Tuesday.
Rescue crews sifted through the rubble overnight after the building in the
city of Jos came down on Monday.
A Red Cross official at the scene told AFP that 13 bodies had been
recovered so far and seven survivors were being treated in hospital.
The collapse came after three days of pounding rain.
Emergency officials said it occurred during working hours, sparing dozens
of residents, who later returned to find their homes destroyed.
Locals said that extra floors of residential housing had been added to the
building in recent years.
Building collapses are tragically common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous
country, with millions living in dilapidated buildings and widespread non-
enforcement of building regulation.
In March, 20 people died when a building housing a nursery and primary
school collapsed in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1835HRS