Synagogue: S’Africa sends DNA experts to Nigeria

The South African Government has sent a team of search and rescue and body identification 

experts to Nigeria to assist in the search for South African victims of the church building collapse 

in Lagos.A six-storey building owned by the Synagogue Church of All Nations had collapsed on 

Friday, trapping a large number of people. As of Wednesday, no fewer than 131 victims had been 

rescued, while the National Emergency Management Agency announced that the death toll had 

risen to 80...

The South African Government had said on Tuesday that five different South African church tour 

groups, comprising about 300 people, were staying in the guest house when it collapsed.An 

online news portal, IOL reported on Wednesday that many South Africans remain unaccounted 

for.The South Africa High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, said it was difficult to identify 

the remains of South e rescue efforts, told one of our correspondents on the telephone on 

Wednesday that many South African citizens were unaccounted for.

Mnguni said, “I have dispatched some officials to the scene to monitor and identify some of our 

citizens that were involved and I am waiting for their report, but you know that rescue efforts are 

ongoing, so we don’t know when the report would come in. We can’t give a final figure on 

casualty 

for now.”He stated that 20 South Africans who were treated for varying degrees of injuries had 

been discharged, while some of them had gone back to South Africa.He explained that the 

families of those that had yet to be accounted for are preparing to visit Nigeria where they would 

be taken to the morgue to identify their relations.He said, “The church gave us a list of some of 

those affected by the collapse, but there were some gaps and so we got back to them and they 

have 

today (Wednesday) filled in the gaps.

“The families of those that were affected in the collapse are also making arrangements to come to 

Nigeria and they would be taken to the morgue to identify their relations.”However, authorities at 

SCOAN declined to state the number of South Africans present when the building 

collapsed.Church officials on Wednesday promised to make a statement later in the day, but had 

yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.But a member of the church, who spoke to PUNCH 

Metro on condition of anonymity, said the authorities of the church were in possession of the 

identities of the people that were in the building before it collapsed.

She said, “The building that collapsed used to be a guest house. Apart from being expensive, it is 

usually reserved for foreigners. The church takes proper documentation of its foreign visitors. 

They even go as far as collecting their passports upon arrival and they are given tags. So the 

church has the records of the people that were in the building before it collapsed.”Meanwhile, 

some of the survivors have landed at OR Tambo International Airport just after 5am on 

Wednesday, according to a South African news website, www.ewn.co.za.Clad in purple T-shirts 

with the church slogan, one of the passengers on the early morning flight said he felt blessed to be 
able to come home after the tragedy.Also, NEMA said apart from the woman that was rescued on 

Tuesday morning, no other person has been rescued alive.NEMA spokesman, Ibrahim Farinloye, 

said the death toll had risen to 80, adding that efforts were still ongoing to recover as many 

bodies as possible.He stated that the agency did not know the number of the South Africans 

present at the time the building collapsed.Farinloye said, “We don’t have the details or identities 

of the victims. The church has not provided us with that. Our major focus now is on the 

emergency phase. After that, we will begin the process of identification and 

investigation.”African victims.

Mnguni said the embassy had deployed some of its officials in the scene of the six- storey building 

that collapsed.The High Commissioner, who said he was in Lagos to monitor them