Eight people rescued as three-storey building collapses in Kano, northwestern Nigeria

A three-story building under construction collapsed in Kano, northwestern Nigeria, trapping shoppers in a busy neighborhood.

Emergency response workers rescued at least eight people from the rubble.

Rescue efforts are ongoing to bring out others who may have been trapped in the collapsed structure.

Mallam Nura Abdullahi, head of Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency in Kano said the building in northern Nigeria’s commercial hub, was being constructed as a business center though businesses were already operating on the ground floor before it caved in.

In a statement, the state Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, sympathised with the victims.

He also ordered an intensified rescue operations to get to those trapped in the rubble.

While lamenting the unfortunate incident, he assured that investigation is ongoing to unravel the cause of the collapsed structure which was under construction.

In the last year, there have been more than 10 building collapses in this West African nation, often with authorities being accused of failing to enforce building safety regulations.

Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, recorded five such collapses last year, including in November when more than 40 people died when a high rise still being constructed crumbled on workers.