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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