Building collapse in Nigeria leaves at least 8 dead

LAGOS Nigeria

At least eight people have been confirmed dead and 37 others rescued alive from debris of a building that collapsed on Wednesday morning in Nigeria's southwestern Lagos city, a disaster management official said.

"[...] figures from various organizations that took part in the operation has indicated that 37 people were rescued alive and 8 were recovered dead," Ibrahim Farinloye, regional head of the National Emergency Management Agency, told Anadolu Agency.

Earlier, Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of the Lagos State, told reporters: "We have rescued about 25 people and some are already dead."

Without specifying the number, he said that most of the dead were schoolchildren.

The governor said the building wasn't approved for a school but for a residential purpose and the building was already marked for demolition because of structural defects.

The two-story kindergarten building of a school on Lagos Island had caved in at about 10 a.m. local time (0900GMT).

Building collapse is not uncommon in Nigeria owing to what officials called substandard materials and non-adherence to regulations.

At least 115 persons -- including 84 foreigners -- died in a similar building collapse in 2014 at a popular church in Lagos.