The death toll from a collapsed guesthouse at a megachurch in
Nigeria’s financial capital Lagos rose to 62 on Tuesday afternoon, a
rescue official said while expressing the hope that more survivors would
be found.
“We have so far 62 people dead and 133 people have been
rescued alive,” southwest coordinator for the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, told AFP.
“Rescue
efforts are still continuing but we hope they will come to an end
tomorrow (Wednesday). We have reached a critical stage now and more
survivors are likely to be brought out of the rubble,” he said.
The
guesthouse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos’ Ikotun
neighbourhood collapsed on Friday, leaving scores trapped in the debris.
Farinloye earlier said rescuers extracted a woman alive from the building’s rubble Tuesday morning.
She
was able to walk away from the collapse with just a broken wrist. The
discovery prompted rescuers to slow down their digging in the wreckage
of the guesthouse.
The hostel housed Nigerian and foreign followers of the popular preacher and televangelist T.B. Joshua.
His
network of churches and a television station have attracted people from
around the world to Lagos with promises of receiving miracles and
prophecies from the man followers dub “The Prophet”.
Joshua has
suggested that a low-flying aircraft was responsible for the disaster
and released security camera footage apparently showing a plane flying
four times over the hostel before its collapse.
Ikotun is located to the west of Lagos’s international airport.
The
preacher has not commented directly on the deaths and initially claimed
that only a few people were injured but on Sunday tweeted: “No matter
how long a lie is sustained, truth will someday prevail.”
Rescuers say the building was overburdened by additional floors being constructed on top of its existing foundations.
Lagos state government officials are investigating the cause of the collapse.
Source: PM News
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