Four students of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, ATBU, drowned on Tuesday when a bridge within the main campus of the university located in Gubi, an outskirt of Bauchi metropolis, collapsed.
Reports also said that the incident, which occurred in the midnight of Monday, also left seven others injured.
According to the vice chancellor of the institution, Prof. Muhammad Abdullazeez, the dead included three males and one female.
The injured, he disclosed were receiving treatment at the university’s medical centre.
The vice chancellor, who visited the site of the collapsed bridge in the company of some top management staff of the institution, attributed the collapse of the bridge to a heavy downpour which lasted several hours.
Abdullazeez said the management immediately closed down the school in honour of the deceased, even as it has equally commenced investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement on Tuesday, expressed sadness at the death of the students.
In the statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, the President described the incident as “tragic, sad and unfortunate.”
He condoled with the management, staff and students of the university.
The tragic incident took place when some of the students were leaving the campus after studying overnight in preparation for their examination.
The incident triggered a protest among the students, who blamed the tragedy on the school management for not responding to several pleas made by them on the deteriorating bridge.
The Students’ Union President, Naziru Mohammed, was said to have narrowly escaped being lynched by the students, as they protested the death of their colleagues.
