No less than eight Muslim worshipers were killed and 25 others sustained various degrees of injury as a section of the 150-year-old Zaria Central Mosque collapsed on Friday during prayer session.
The unfortunate incident, it was learnt, occurred at about 4:00pm while the worshippers were praying.
Mallam Shehu Nagari, one of the survivors said, the incident happened when they were in the second Sujud of Asr prayer.
According to him, the affected portion of the mosque suddenly collapsed on those sitting directly under it.
Nagari said all he knew was that the affected worshippers were covered by the rubble because the section was built with mud over 150 years ago.
As of the time of filing this report Nagari said he couldn’t ascertain the actual number of victims involved in the incident.
The Emir of Zazzau, Mallam Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, who confirmed the incident, said the victims were observing the Asr prayer around 4:00pm when the incident occurred.
Kaduna State Police Command on Friday night also confirmed the death of eight persons in the incident.
“We had earlier observed a crack on the wall of the mosque yesterday (Thursday) and were planning to deploy a team of civil engineers to effect repairs when this unfortunate incident happened,” he added.