Death toll arising from the recent collapse of the Synagogue church now stands at 115, with 84 of them South Africans.
Jeff Radebe, the minister in charge of Pretoria’s response to the disaster confirmed this on Monday, citing sources in Lagos.
“We understand from our assessment team that the total number of people who have perished is now 115, but those are not all South Africans,” he said.
Speaking after dozens of injured survivors were repatriated home, Radebe confirmed that the casualty figure of South Africans was 84.
Ten days after the disaster, Nigerian officials struggled to immediately confirm the death toll. Rescuers’ spokesman, Ibrahim Farinloye, of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA ) said that “There could have been additional deaths on arrival at the hospitals,” it was now up to the church and the various Embassies to give the exact final toll. South African Minister, Radebe however said that the number of injured that arrived the country was now 25, because one refused to board the medical evacuation plane in Lagos and chose to return to the church which crumbled in Lagos on September 12.
”The initial arrangement was to bring back all the 26, but “there were only 25 who actually boarded the aircraft because one returned to the synagogue yesterday,” said Radebe.
A 19-member medical team including specialised doctors, nurses and medical military paramedics took care of the injured on board a military C-130 aircraft.
“It’s the biggest evacuation effort by the (South African) Air Force since the dawn of democracy,” two decades ago, said Radebe.
Two orphaned toddlers – that lost their parents in the tragedy – were among the survivors that returned on Monday.
Sixteen wounded casualties were in critical condition, while some had limbs amputated and one developed rot in the toes. Others had developed kidney failure and were on dialysis.
They were loaded from the aircraft at Swartkop Air Force Base into ambulances and driven to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in the capital, Pretoria.
Some 350 South Africans were thought to be visiting the church in the Ikotun neighbourhood of the megacity of Lagos when the three-storey building came down during construction work.
Prophet T.B Joshua, one of Nigeria’s best-known evangelical preachers, on Sunday pledged to visit South Africa to meet survivors and their families.
Radebe thanked the Nigeria Government for their cooperation. “I thank the Nigerian government for the cooperation that they have had with us in order to ensure we executed this task as a matter of extreme urgency.
“We the South African government are keenly waiting for the investigation that is being conducted by the Nigerian government so that we get to the bottom of the cause of the collapse of this building that has caused us this national disaster,” he said.
Farinloye said the first investigation meeting would be held Tuesday involving state and federal bodies as well as Engineers to assess the collapsed building, its causes and determine next steps.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan visited the church on Saturday and promised to investigate the cause of the disaster.
However, South Africa’s largest opposition party the Democratic Alliance are of the opinion the government should sue the church over the deaths.
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