LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — 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.