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Synagogue Building Collapse: 54 Bodies Of South African Victims Ready For Repatriation

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday gave the South African Government an approval to claim the 54 bodies of South African victims of … Continue reading Synagogue Building Collapse: 54 Bodies Of South African Victims Ready For Repatriation


Synagogue Church of All Nations

Synagogue Church of All NationsThe Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday gave the South African Government an approval to claim the 54 bodies of South African victims of the building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations premises in Alimosho.

The Governor gave the consent at Lagos House, Marina, when he hosted a delegation from the South African Government led by a Special Envoy and Minister from the Presidency, Mr Jeff Radebe, who had come to seek the assistance of the State Government in speeding the process of repatriation of the corpses of South Africans.

Mr Fashola said that 70 bodies had so far been identified through DNA tests, with 54 being South Africans.

At an earlier meeting between Governor Fashola and the Lagos State team, the State’s Chief Examiner, Professor John Obafunwa, gave a breakdown of the nationalities of victims identified so far, informing the gathering that as more bodies out of the total 116 victims who died in the accident are positively identified by the Chief Examiner and his team of medical experts, the State Government would immediately release such bodies.

While seeking the understanding of the South African Government on the issue, the Governor said the state while being keen on getting the families to get to closure about the unfortunate incident was also being cautious to ensure that mistakes do not occur in terms of releasing bodies of victims to the wrong families.

“We have no reason to deny you the right to take those 54 bodies, you have my word, you can take them whenever you are ready to do so. It is left for you to decide whether to take them in batches or wait until we conclude the exercise. But if you are ready, my team will ensure that you take them without any delay,” Governor Fashola said.

He sympathised with the Government and people of South Africa on the incident, saying he understood how difficult the disaster must have been for the South African President and the weight of pressure and expectation that he is going through.

He said: “I understand the call by South Africans to get the bodies of their relatives but we cannot at this time get the process wrong because if we release a body, we want to ensure that each family takes the body of their relative. It will be un-pardonable for us to make mistakes”.

Coroner’s Inquest gathering evidence

Explaining the choice of DNA tests to determine the identities of the victims, the Governor stressed that with the rubbles in the aftermath of the collapse, it was very difficult to salvage the bodies.

“The choice of South Africa for the test was a special decision to make the process easier for South Africans who bore the bigger brunt of the tragedy. So, since the relatives were in South Africa, it was easier to use a laboratory in the country where we could easily take samples from the deceased families for the test. It was meant to further demonstrate what our intentions were,” he further explained.

While explaining the reason for setting up a Coroner’s Inquest into the disaster, Governor Fashola stated that it has been set up to investigate the cause of the disaster and should not be misconstrued as a trial.

He added that the Coroner’s Inquest would be taking evidence from all the parties concerned with the disaster so that it can be able to advice the government on what action to take concerning what has happened.