Metro Synagogue Tragedy: Death Toll Rises to 70,Victims' Nationalities Unknown

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The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Wednesday said it was too early to determine the nationalities of victims of the collapsed building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations.

NEMA South-West spokesman, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, made the statement while addressing newsmen at the site of the collapsed building in Ikotun, Lagos.

An uncompleted six-storey guest house owned by the church, collapsed on September 12 leaving scores of people dead and several others injured.

Farinloye made the statement while reacting to the claim by the South African President, Mr Jacob Zuma that 67 worshippers from South Africa died in the incident.

"It is too early to say that all the dead persons recovered from the collapsed building were South Africans. Investigations are ongoing to determine the nationalities of the victims, ’’ he added.

Meanwhile, NEMA has said that the number of dead bodies recovered from the debris of the collapse building had increased from 65 to 70.

"NEMA and other emergency responders are mostly concerned about rescuing lives. However, we assure that soon after our operations, we will get details from the church on the number of guests at the guest house before the incident,`` Farinloye said.

He added that the church had promised to provide NEMA with the names of the victims and their nationalities.

The NEMA spokesman said that police sniffer dogs were initially deployed to the site of the building to sniff out victims trapped in the rubbles.

He, however, added that the emergency responders saw no need for them since the rescue operation was almost concluded.

"The sniffer dogs were initially intended to help rescuers sniff out trapped victims, but we considered it no longer necessary since the clearing of the rubbles is almost concluded,’’ he said.

#Lagos #Synagogue

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