- How we stayed under rubble, by survivor
- Gov. shuts school, picks victims’ medical bills, NGF pledges support
Distraught parents were in desperate search for their children yesterday, about 24 hours after the collapsed school building that killed 22 pupils in Jos.
The tragic incident also saw about 132 injured victims hospitalized in various hospitals around the Plateau State capital.
Emotions ran high at the site of the incident yesterday as parents searched desperately for their missing children.
One of the women, whose 16 years old daughter sustained injuries and was on admission at Our Lady of Apostles Hospital (OLA), raised the alarm on sighting Governor Caleb Mutfwang who visited the site yesterday, pleading that she was yet to see her son since the building collapsed.
Another parent, Mrs. Amaka Dennis, told reporters at OLA where her second child, Chidera Dennis, was recuperating from injuries she sustained during the incident, that she was still searching for her JSS 1 son, Emmanuel, who she said had gone to school on that day with his sister.
Amid sobs, the visibly worried mother said that she and her husband had combed all the hospitals and mortuaries in Jos without any sign of the pupil.
She complained that soldiers were not allowing parents to go to the site after the incident, adding that she had not been able to gain access and continue the search for her son.
Amaka, who hails from Orlu in Imo State, said: “Please, help me tell the soldiers to allow me to go in and look for my son if he is still under the rubble.
“My husband and I have gone round all the hospitals and mortuaries in Jos, but we have not seen him.
“Please help me, help me. I can’t get myself. As you see me, I am not the one here.
“I carried him for nine months. He is very diligent.
“I sell roasted corn, and after school, he comes to the market to help me.
“Let them allow me to dig if I can see my son.
“I thank God I have seen this one.
“The God that did miracle for me in this one should help me get my son.”
Her daughter, Chidera, an SS2 student, narrating what happened, said that they were in the class discussing after a lesson when one of their classmates told them that a teacher wanted to hold a combined lesson with another class with them.
Chidera said: “After a class, we just sat in the classroom discussing because the teacher had just finished teaching and left us.
“We were just ‘gisting’ and talking when one of our classmates came and told us that a teacher wanted to take us on a combined session with another class.
“We were about to go out, and as I carried my bag and opened the door, the building fell and I crept under one desk with one girl.
“She was telling me that I should help her because the desk was on top of her head. I removed her head and put my hand under the deck.
“Then she said that I should tell her mother that if they saved us she was going to die.
“I told her that she should not say so again, that we were going to come out alive and that the Lord is our strength.
“We were eight inside the class and we lost one of our classmates.”
Another, 14-year-old pupil, Chidinma Emmanuel of SS1, said they were trapped for hours before they were rescued.
She said: “We were in the class making noise, and our teacher came in and told us to keep quiet.
“While we sat in the class, we heard a sound, and before we knew it, the whole building had collapsed.
“I saw my teacher. I think she came out of the building. All of my classmates left and only three of us remained inside.
“It took them (rescuers) many hours before they could realise that some people were alive. When they found out, they tried to rescue us, but one person died in my class.
“I was to someone who died, and he laid on my arm. As he laid on my arm, the building fell on his head and it broke, so he died.
Governor Mutfwang yesterday ordered a shutdown of the school.
The governor also said the state government would take responsibility for the medical bills of the students injured in the tragic incident.
Governor Mutfwang said: “We have undertaken to bear the medical bills of all the victims in the hospital. We will do the best we can to ensure that they get the best of medical care,” he said.
“Like we have said, the school stands shut, and it is a call to duty.
“Not only are we going to investigate the reasons behind the collapse of the building, we are going to beam our searchlight on all such schools and make sure that they do not endanger anybody’s lives in the future.
“You know, the very unfortunate incident, like I said, could have been avoided with proper governance.
“Clearly, you can see that the building leaves a lot to be desired.
“Even as a layman, I could see that the building was not up to standard.
“Unfortunately, it has existed for years and has put the lives of people in peril now.
“As of this morning, we have a total of 22 lives lost. Many are still in hospital.
“But we thank God; the casualties could have been more.
“And this is why when we came into government, one of the executive orders we signed, Order 003, was to be able to sanitise the city, especially to avoid this kind of catastrophe.
“We are not out to punish anybody. We are not doing wickedness to anyone. We are not witch-hunting anybody.
“We just want to make sure that we live in a society like civilized people, obeying rules and regulations.
“And by the grace of God, we are going to continue on this trajectory.”
The governor expressed appreciation to the people of Plateau State who rushed to the scene in their numbers, particularly those who lent their equipment for use.
“This is our common humanity, that when disaster befalls any one of us, we are there for one another.
“We’ll continue this process of engagement and comforting one another until God brings comfort to the families who lost their dear ones.
“Even our public schools, we will not spare them. And we are also going to beam the searchlight on our own government processes and procedures to make sure that they have integrity and that people can trust the process.
“There are many buildings in this city that were built without any building plan; that were built without any building permit.
“Now we are going to make sure that people comply with our external town planning laws.
“For those who have built houses, particularly along riverbanks, let me send a note of warning right away, that we are going to ensure that there is a civilized gap between every riverbank and houses.
“You cannot build a house on the riverbank and erosion is eating into it and you are still living there. It doesn’t make sense.
“So it has been a painful one for me, and I’ve gone round to see some of the little children in pains and mothers who lost their dear children.
“It is something we need to avoid. We can’t continue to blame Satan and blame demons when we ourselves should take responsibility.”
The principal of the school told Mutfwang that the school had a student population of 284 in the secondary section and 145 in the primary.
He said the proprietor was not around to receive the governor as he was indisposed.
(The Nation)
