84 South Africans Died In Synagogue Collapse

The number of South Africans who lost their lives in the collapse of a guest house owned by the Synagogue Church of all Nations Synagogue (SCOAN) has increased from 67 to 84.

This was disclosed by South Africa’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Louis Mnguni in an interview with AFP.

South African President Jacob Zuma had initially claimed that 67 of his nationals had died in the Synagogue collapse.

According to Mnguni, there were 349 South Africans visiting the Synagogue church at the time of the collapse.‎ 265 out of that number were found alive while 17 were unaccounted for.

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He said: “The number has risen from 67 to 84, with more bodies discovered on Thursday, September 18th. The number of South Africans who were in the church might be higher, as we believe that some people organized the trip themselves without using travel agents.

“There are 265 South African survivors. Initially, there were 96 injured South Africans, but now there are only 29 still in hospital, including a three-year-old.”‎

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He added that forensic tests were still to be conducted to verify the identities of the dead.

However, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA has put the death toll at 86 people and 131 rescued, though they are yet to disclose the nationalities of the victims of the tragedy.

Last Friday, the six-storey guest house inside the church’s premises caved in as additional floors were being added to the original two-storey building.

The collapse has been trailed with a lot of controversy as the church claimed it was a terror attack.

Meanwhile, , a Ghana-based pastor had claimed that the loss of lives could be due to TB Joshua’s quest for promotion in the spiritual realm.

Investigation into the cause of the collapse is still on going.

Source: Legit.ng