Students escape death as classroom block collapses in Cross River

Several students of Community Secondary School, Bumaji, Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State have escaped death as a six-classroom block collapsed.

The incident happened on Monday evening as the students were playing games inside the classrooms after classes.

The cause of the collapse was attributed to erosion which had eaten deep close to the foundations of the classroom blocks but was ignored.

One of the students, who gave her name as Mary, said they heard a big bang when the roof and parts of the walls caved in.

“We were playing as we were dispersing from our classes when we heard loud cracking sounds. The next we saw was that the walls were falling apart. Fortunately we all ran outside,” she said.

An elder of the community, who asked not to be mentioned, also confirmed that no student or staff was affected by the collapse.

He however appealed for urgent intervention to avoid students studying under trees and exposed to environmental hazards.

Findings showed that the classroom blocks were built by a former member of the state House of Assembly, Cletus Obun, in early 2000 with some government support.

Principal of the school, Abraham Ashike, could not be reached as the area is out of network coverage.

But special adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on education, Castro Ezama, said it was unfortunate that it happened even when politicians were frequenting the school for their electioneering campaigns.

He however disclosed that SUBEB and UBEC were intervening in many local schools and will soon mobilise contractors to the site.