At least eight people have been confirmed dead with four injured as rescue operations for the remaining victims of a three-storey building collapse in Jos North resumed early Tuesday morning.
Three corpses had earlier been evacuated Monday evening and an additional two including that of a pregnant woman and Jos elder, Kabiru Nalele were recovered from the debris around 10pm Monday.
As at 8:00am on Tuesday, rescue workers recovered three additional corpses making the casualty figure eight. Rescue workers using excavators were seen as early as 7am on Tuesday removing debris while security agents cordoned off the area.
Daily Trust reports that the rescue operation was halted Monday around 11pm due to poor visibility and exhaustion, according to a rescue worker with the Nigeria Red Cross.
A combined team of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Nigeria Red Cross, security agents and residents of Jos have been working assiduously to search for survivors.
The three-storey building which served as a pharmacy and residential apartments came down around 4:00pm on Monday while residents say labourers were trying to mend cracks from the structure.
Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tyopev Terna said the injured have been evacuated to Bingham University Teaching Hospital for medical attention.
The owner of the building, a popular Jos businessman who owns pharmacy outlets in the city, Alhaji Rufai Nalele was not in the building at the time of the incident but the remains of his father and the family patriarch, Kabiru Nalele was recovered Monday Night.
One of the bereaved include popular film producer and actor, Sani Muazu who wrote on his social media platform that he lost his sister in-law, Amina and his niece, Maryam in the incident.
He said Amina who was also Nalele’s daughter had been managing the chemist while Maryam, a student was a medicine dispenser at the chemist on the ground floor of the building.
