Lagos church disaster: 10 South African victims identified

Ten of the South African citizens killed in the building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Nigeria have been positively identified, the government said on Thursday.

A South African assessment team which travelled to the West African country on Wednesday said the 10 bodies were identified through reference to identity documents found in their possession.

The families of the deceased had been notified and social workers had been deployed to assist them, the government said.

Officials were maintaining contact with relatives of those who were visiting the church and had asked them to send photographs of their relatives which could be used for identification purposes.

“Since the appeal made yesterday (on Wednesday ) for family members to send photographs of their affected loved ones to the operations centre at dirco, we have received an overwhelmingly positive response and we appreciate this gesture of co-operation,” government said in a statement.

“We have forwarded the pictures to the South African consulate in Nigeria and the team on the ground in Lagos is making use of the pictures in the process of identifying those of our fallen compatriots who can still be identified through the use of photographs.

“We understand that some of the bodies may take a while to be positively identified due to the nature and extent of the calamity.”

A guest house belonging to the church, led by self-styled faith healer TB Joshua, collapsed and was reduced to rubble on Friday.

The assessment team has established that 349 South Africans were in Lagos on matters connected to the church when the disaster occurred.

Some of the survivors of the incident had arrived back in South Africa.

The assessment team was making arrangements for the treatment and return of those who were injured in the disaster.

“The team will also work with authorities on the process of the repatriation of the mortal remains of deceased South Africans,” said government, adding that it would ensure that all the country's citizens were accounted for.

“The SA high commissioner and the consul-general have been working with the leadership of the church and other authorities, visiting the scene, going to hospitals and mortuaries in an effort to provide assistance to all our affected citizens,” said the government.

A 24-hour operations centre had also set up at the department of international relations and co-operation to relay information from Nigeria to the families as well as to receive information from the families and to share such information with the team on the ground in Lagos.

Friday 19 September 2014

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/lagos-disaster-10-sa-victims-identified-1.1753221#.VBxXvxrF8Ro

225 victims of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 identified

Forensic experts have identified 225 victims of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, with 14 new names released to families, Dutch authorities said today.

"Among the 14 victims, seven were Dutch and seven were of other nationalities," the justice ministry said in a statement, adding that the other nationalities would not be released at the request of their embassies.

The Boeing 777 exploded over Eastern Ukraine on 17 July, killing all 298 on board.

193 of the passengers were Dutch.

The findings of an initial report by a team of Dutch air crash investigators appears to back-up claims that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.

Ukraine has accused separatists of shooting it down with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Russia - a charge Moscow denies.

Last month forensics experts suspended their search for bodies due to clashes between Eastern Ukraine and the pro-Russian rebels near the crash site northeast of Donetsk.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said today it was still "too dangerous" for investigators to visit the site, and that the Dutch investigators left in Ukraine would return to the Netherlands.

Friday 19 September 2014

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0919/645012-mh17/

Nigeria: Another 17 South Africans presumed dead after church collapse

The South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, has told that the death toll from the collapse in Lagos has risen to 84.

President Jacob Zuma initially announced that 67 South Africans were crushed to death when a residential building owned by TB Joshua's popular church collapsed a week ago.

Late last night, government said 17 South Africans are either dead or missing following the collapse.

Government confirmed that 349 South Africans were in Nigeria to hear Joshua preach.

A total of 265 of them have been found alive.

It’s also been confirmed that an assessment team from South Africa has now touched down in Lagos and will help with coordination.

Government has thanked the families of those still missing for sending photographs to help identify bodies where possible.

Arrangements are being made to bring the bodies home.

Meanwhile, the church maintains the collapse was the result of some kind of an attack and has described those who died as martyrs.

Questions have been asked about the state of the hostel where followers of the controversial pastor stayed.

Friday 19 September 2014

http://ewn.co.za/2014/09/19/Nigeria-collapse-17-South-Africans-still-missing