UPDATED: ATBU shut as flood kills four students

The management of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi has announced the closure of the varsity in honour of the students who died as a result of a heavy downpour.

Four students were killed while many others injured on Monday night after a pedestrian bridge collapsed at the Gubi campus.

It was gathered that the deceased students were returning to the hostel when the bridge connecting one of the hostels to another building containing lecture rooms collapsed. They were returning from a night class to their hostels after the heavy downpour.

According to reports, there were 20 students on the bridge when the tragedy struck. Eight of them who got caught in the frenzy were said to have sustained injuries while others are missing.

It's a pathetic news coming from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University ATBU, Gubi Campus, Bauchi where the pedestrian bridge linking the hostel to the campus collapsed at midnight after a heavy rain downpour, many students were injured, missing & unconfirmed numbers of death. pic.twitter.com/9vDRNS1uFC

— Gbemi Dennis™ (@GbemiDennis) August 6, 2019

Following the tragedy, some irate students had taken to the school premises on Tuesday to protest the death of their colleagues. They also faulted the bridge collapse on negligence by the school authorities.

In reaction to the incident, the school authorities announced the shut down of the varsity till August 19, 2019.

According to PUNCH, Muhammad Abdullazeez, the vice-chancellor, on Tuesday, said that the closure was in honour of the students who died as a result of the flood.

“I regret to announce the death of four of our students on August 5th, 2019. The unfortunate incident that led to the demise of the students occurred late last night (Monday), at the Gubi Campus of the University,” he said.

“While full details of the occurrence are being awaited, the University Senate, at an emergency meeting this morning, (August 6th, 2019) has decided to close the University in honour of the students. We closed down the school because we are mourning. The reopening date has been fixed for Tuesday, August 19th, 2019.”