Synagogue Collapse:Death Toll Keeps Rising..Now 150

As forensic efforts are ongoing to identify the victims of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) tragedy, conflicting reports have again allegedly shot up the death toll to 150.

The new figure of the death toll is 35 persons higher than the last figure of 115, which was touted last week as authentic.

These allegations were made by South African Minister,  Jeff Radebe, a leader of the inter-ministerial team set up to investigate the tragedy, which claimed the lives of many South Africans.

Radebe, who was speaking yesterday about efforts to repatriate the remains of South Africans, said bereaved families would have to wait even longer.

As reported by South African Times Live, the wait was necessitated by the increase in death toll to 150, which  Radebe said has made the body identification process to be longer because the site had been forensically compromised.
He also said postmortem results and death certificates had to be completed in Nigeria before the bodies could be brought home.

On the other hand, he recounted the figure of the South Africans who died in the collapse, which was put at 84.

He said the toll was revised because during the documentation process, it was discovered that four, out of the 84 previously claimed figure, were not South Africans but foreigners resident in the country.

Also, the acting spokeswoman of the government, Phumla Williams, said four of the people killed were initially thought to be South Africans because they were travelling on South African documents, thereby causing confusion about the death toll.

She said: “Initially we were told there were 84 deaths but through this rigorous process of identification we have now established four were not South Africans, but they have used South African documents.

“They were three Zimbabweans and one Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) citizens who all had South African residence permits.

“The South African government had been in contact with Zimbabwe and the DRC and they have confirmed these are their citizens.”

She, however, said the remains of the four people would be brought back from Nigeria with the remains of the South Africans who were killed.

However, when contacted, the South-west spokesperson, Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said he was not at liberty to drag figures with the South African government.

He said: “We are not dragging figures with anyone. Already, you can see the inconsistency in the figures they are bandying about. The Nigerian government has nothing to do with that.”