26th September, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government has begun DNA test to identify bodies of victims of the Synagogue Church building collapse. Emergency rescue officials put the death toll of the incident at 115.
The government called for DNA samples from relatives of the deceased to be able to sort out the dead bodies before releasing them to their loved ones for burial.
The government said relatives and family members of victims, both locally and internationally, must come forward to donate samples for the test.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris who disclosed this on Friday at Alausa, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said early submission of samples would aid forensic identification and DNA analysis of recovered bodies.
He said the state government considered it necessary to start forensic identification and DNA analysis of the recovered bodies in view of the need to identify each of them.
He appealed to family members, especially parents, children and siblings of nationals who believe their relations died in the collapsed building to visit the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja from Friday, 26 September, to submit samples that could aid the forensic identification and DNA analysis of recovered bodies.
The commissioner explained that those eligible to give samples for the forensic identification and DNA analysis in order of preference include parents, children and siblings of the deceased.
Majority of victims of the disaster were identified as South Africans. The South African government said 84 of its citizens died in the incident.
Officials of the Lagos State Government said authorities of the church did not obtain approval before adding four more floors to the two-storey building.
Families of affected victims have threatened to sue the General Overseer of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, for preventing rescue workers from moving in immediately to save lives when the building collapsed.
The Federal Government has already set up a committee to investigate the incident.
Joshua had claimed that Boko Haram attacked his church citing a strange aircraft which hovered over the building several times before it collapsed, but many Nigerians dismissed his claim.