More than 300 children and staff are now thought to have been kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, making it one of the worst mass abductions the country has seen.
The Christian Association of Nigeria said 303 students and 12 teachers were taken from on St Mary's School in Papiri, Niger state - substantially more than previously estimated.
It said the figures have been revised upwards after a verification exercise.
The kidnapping comes amid a surge of attacks by armed groups. The revised number of people taken surpasses the 276 abducted during the infamous Chibok mass abduction of 2014.
Local police said armed men stormed the school at around 02:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Friday morning, abducting students who were staying there.
Dominic Adamu, whose daughters attend the school but were not taken, told the BBC: Everybody is weak... it took everybody by surprise.
One distressed woman tearfully told the BBC that her nieces, aged six and 13, had been kidnapped, adding: I just want them to come home.
Police said that security agencies were combing the forests with a view to rescue the abducted students.
Initial reports indicated 215 pupils had been taken, but that figure is now believed to be almost half of the school's student population.
Authorities in Niger state stated that the school had disregarded an order to close all boarding facilities following intelligence warnings of a heightened risk of attacks.
The kidnapping of people for ransom by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, has become a major issue in many parts of Nigeria.
This mass abduction follows other recent incidents where students were kidnapped from different schools in Nigeria, intensifying fears and calls for action from the central government to protect educational institutions.
