At least 12 people were killed and many others injured on Friday (July 12) after a two-story school building collapsed in Nigeria’s north-central Plateau state, authorities said.

The building at the privately-owned Saint Academy, a primary and secondary school in Jos, the capital city of Plateau state, collapsed when students were writing a promotional examination Friday morning.

The building housed several classrooms and offices.

However, the authorities are yet to confirm the number of students and teachers killed in Saints Academy college in Plateau state’s Busa Buji community. But Channels Television said 26 people were being treated along with the deaths, citing a witness account at a nearby hospital.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said rescue and health workers as well as security forces have been deployed at the scene. It said that “several students” had been killed.

“Approximately 120 people were trapped, with many evacuated,” Plateau Commissioner for Information Musa Ashoms said in a statement. “To ensure prompt medical attention, the government has instructed hospitals to prioritise treatment without documentation or payment.”

The state government blamed the tragedy on the school’s “weak structure and location near a riverbank.” It urged schools facing similar issues to close down.

Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some weeping and others offering to help, as excavators combed through the debris. One woman was seen wailing and attempting to go closer to the rubble as others held her back.