Nigeria school collapse kills 16 students, traps others

A school in central Nigeria collapsed on Friday, killing at least 16 students and trapping others who were heard crying out for help under the rubble, a rescue agency and witnesses said.

Parents desperately looked for their children at the Saint Academy in Jos North district of Plateau State after the building fell in on students taking their exams, an AFP correspondent at the site said.

"A two-storey building housing Saint Academy... in Busa Buji in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State collapsed this morning killing several students," the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

"NEMA and other critical stakeholders are presently carrying out Search and Rescue operations," it said.

Officials did not give a precise toll, but a resident at the scene Chika Obioha told AFP he estimated eight people died at the site and dozens more had been injured.

"Everyone is helping out to see if we can rescue more people," he said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse but residents said it came after three days of heavy rains in Plateau.

Building collapses are fairly common in Africa's most populous nation because of lax enforcement of building standards, negligence and use of low quality materials.