The UN Deputy Secretary-General voiced deep alarm on Saturday over the latest mass abduction from a school in Nigeria, calling for the immediate release of those taken.

It was originally reported that 215 pupils had been kidnapped from St. Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger state, early on Friday morning – but the figure was revised upwards to 303 students and 12 teachers, according to The Christian Association of Nigeria.

The association’s chair who reportedly visited the school on Friday said that more than 80 students had been captured after trying to escape during the abduction by armed assailants. The students were both male and female, aged 10 to 18.

Second mass abduction this week

The number snatched from the Catholic school in the centre of the country exceeds the 276 girls abduct

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