South African Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday at a ceremony at the Waterkloof air force base Pretoria, marking the arrival of the bodies of 74 victims, that great efforts are being made by the South African Government to ensure that the remaining 11 bodies of South Africans who died during the building collapse at the Synagogue Church of all Nations are identified and brought back home.
He said, “We will intensify our efforts to ensure that the bodies still in
Nigeria are returned without delay,” he said .
“President Jacob Zuma has made a commitment that we need to make sure
that we leave no stone unturned, and that all 85 must be brought back home.
“But that is dependent on the Nigerian authorities who are responsible
for these DNA samples. We are going to work with them to ensure that
eventually, the other victims … are brought back when it is humanly and
scientifically possible,”
The family members of the deceased arrived in batches at the ceremony and where ushered to chairs decorated with black cloth. The South African Police Service Brass Bank delivered a rendition of the 1862 American civil war song ''Battle Cry of Freedom'' written by American Composer George Fredrick Root.
Out of the 85 bodies of South African victims, only 75 have so far been identified and returned back to South Africa.
The reason for this might be due to DNA sampling that the Lagos State Government medical team is still carrying out.
81 South Africans, including three Zimbabweans and one Congolese national using South Africa traveling documents were among the 116 people who died when a six storey guest house collapsed at the Synagogue Church of all Nations church premises in Lagos.
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