Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on September 18, 2014

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 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 the 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 dont know when the report would come in. We cant 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.

Link:

Synagogue: SAfrica sends DNA experts to Nigeria No plan to seal church Lagos

Category: Synagogue
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