Students Unscathed As Classrooms Collapse In Cross River

Several students of Community Secondary School in Bumaji, Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State narrowly escaped after a six-classroom block collapsed on Monday evening.

The students were reported to have been playing games inside the classroom when the incident occurred.

The cause of the collapse was revealed to be an uncontrolled erosion eating away at the foundations of the building.

One of the students who identified as Mary said they heard a loud crash as 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,” Mary narrated.

Fortunately, no students or staff were affected by the collapse.

However, an elder of the community who pleaded anonymity requested intervention to prevent the students from having to study outside under hazardous conditions.

According to reports, the classroom blocks were originally built in the early 2000s by former state House of Assembly member Cletus Obun, with the support of the government.

Efforts to reach the school's principal, Abraham Ashike, were unsuccessful due to a lack of network coverage in the area.

However, the Special Advisor to Governor Ben Ayade on education, Castro Ezama, expressed regret that the incident occurred even during the electioneering campaigns.

Ezama confirmed that SUBEB and UBEC were taking steps to intervene in local schools and will soon mobilise contractors to the site.