The Latest: Nigeria calls off search at collapsed school The Latest: Nigeria calls off search at collapsed school as death toll at 8 and could climb

LAGOS, Nigeria -- The Latest on Nigeria school building collapse (all times local):

1:35 p.m.

A Nigerian official says search efforts have been halted a day after a school building collapsed in Lagos with an unknown number of children inside.

National Emergency Management Agency official Ibrahim Farinloye tells The Associated Press that workers have reached the foundation of the collapsed three-story building and don't expect to see any further bodies.

He declines to give an updated toll of dead and rescued. Officials late Wednesday said eight had died and 37 had been rescued.

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9:55 a.m.

Search and rescue work continues in Nigeria a day after a building containing a school collapsed with scores of children said to be inside.

A National Emergency Management Agency spokesman late Wednesday said 37 people had been pulled out alive, with eight bodies recovered from the ruins.

An unknown number remain missing.

It is not yet known what caused the collapse of the three-story building in a densely crowded neighborhood at the heart of Nigeria' commercial capital, Lagos.

Building collapses are all too common in the West African nation, where new construction often goes up without regulatory oversight.

Lagos state Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode has said the building, which had been marked for demolition, was classified as residential and the school was operating illegally on the top two floors.