BODIES of more than 80 South Africans, who died when a guest house of
the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN) collapsed in Nigeria, could be
taken home by the end of October, according to a report.
“We are looking at three weeks,” Professor John Obafunwa, chief medical
examiner of Lagos State and vice chancellor of the state university, was quoted
as saying by an online media.
“I would be surprised if we had
to wait till November. I expect all bodies to be out by that time. The inquest
could drag on for weeks and months. But we’re not going to delay the release of
bodies to family members because of that,” he said.
Obafunwa was overseeing the identification process and was speaking from
Lagos University Teaching Hospital, where some of the remains were being kept.
Obafunwa said the autopsies had been completed and samples were shipped
out for DNA analysis.
He said the process of identification had been slow because Nigeria did
not have facilities to analyse DNA.
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