Bodies Of 66 South Africans Killed In Synagogue Building Collapse Released

The bodies of 66 South Africans, victims of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) building collapse, were on Saturday handed over to a South African official.

The bodies were released to the official following the completion of autopsy. The remains were collected from the Mainland Hospital, Yaba and the Isolo General Hospital, Isolo.

According to Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa, the Chief Medical Examiner in charge, 80 bodies, including victims from Nigeria, Togo and other neighbouring countries, were identified. 66 of them were confrimed to be South Africans.

“We have been working from midnight when the South African officials arrived, to identify the bodies,” Obafunwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“So far, from Yaba mortuary, we identified 40 South Africans and the bodies have been appropriately labelled and loaded into the refrigerated trucks.

“My colleague led the other team of the South African officials to the Isolo mortuary, where they identified and loaded 26 bodies,’’ he said.