- The victims were pupils of the Malam Dan-Umma Qur’anic School at Bayan Science, Badariya, where the burrow pit collapsed.
At least seven children have lost their lives after a pit collapsed in Birnin Kebbi, the capital of Kebbi State.
The victims were pupils of the Malam Dan-Umma Qur’anic School at Bayan Science, Badariya, where the burrow pit collapsed.
The pit caved in while the kids were excavating mud from the hill it was located on.
The proprietor of the school, Malam Dan Umar, who confirmed the incident to newsmen at his residence in the school premises yesterday, said one other student was injured in the tragic incident.
He disclosed he ordered the pupils to go on top of the hill near the school to get clay and gravels to mend the holes inside their rooms against an expected flood.
Umar, who spoke amid tears, said that in the process, a massive chunk of the laterite fell on them, leaving seven dead on the spot and one hospitalised.
“Today is one of the saddest days in my life. When I was told that a heavy chunk of the laterite fell on them, I immediately rushed to the scene of the incident, where I confirmed that seven of them were dead. The one who survived was rushed to the hospital in Birnin Kebbi.
“It was sad for me. I was still in the house when someone called to tell me the bad news. I still find it difficult to believe,” he said.
Residents around the area said that apart from using some caved areas of the hill for convenience, the pupils also used its mud to build a place where they rested.
One of the residents, Malam Shehu Abubakar, said the incident was like a dream to him.
“I saw them this morning when they gathered at the hill as they used to do every day. The hill is like a home to them. That is where they usually do all their things. If they were not in the class, you would find them doing one thing or another,” he said.
The special adviser to Governor Nasir Idris on pilgrims’ welfare, Zayyanu Sanka, who also lives around the area, was reported to have said that the state government would look into the possibility of banning the excavation of soil or gravels on top of such hills in order to forestall reoccurrence