Authorities reported on Monday that at least seven bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a partially demolished building that collapsed over the weekend in the suburbs of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
Abdulrahman Mohammed, director of the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Department, explained that the structure had already been partially demolished by Nigerian authorities before it fell on Saturday in Sabon-Lugbe, where a group of looters entered the site to steal metal rods.
“This activity by the presumed looters led to the collapse of the remaining part of the destroyed slab onto them,” Mohammed stated. He also mentioned that two injured individuals were rescued and taken to the hospital.
Building collapses are not uncommon in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, often resulting in significant casualties.
