Ibrahim Farinloye, the Public Relations Officer of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), reportedly confirmed in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, that death toll from the collapsed building in Synagogue Church of All Nations, Ikotun, Lagos, on Sunday increased to 41, while people trapped in the building that had been rescued have also risen to 130 with varying degrees of injury.
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| Debris of the collapsed building |
Information given to news men by Ibrahim Farinloye revealed that 80 percent of people rescued after a six-storey building guest house under construction belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed on Friday were women.
According to him, two female children, aged four and eight years, were among those rescued from the collapsed building.
He said the continued rescue exercise has increased the number of dead persons from 17 to 40.
It was gathered that after the collapse, members of the church were said to have at first prevented emergency officials from participating in the rescue, making it difficult to establish a toll for the dead and injured. But NEMA were allowed in on Saturday.
“We’re still working at the site,” Farinloye had said, adding he expected the clear-up would extend into today.
There was no immediate explanation for the collapse from the government.
Emergency services officials said the lower three floors of the building located in the large church compound had already been operating as a guest house, and it appeared construction work was underway to add three more floors.
However, the Senior Pastor of the church Temitope Joshua attributed the cause of the collapse to a mysterious helicopter flying repeatedly over the building.
Pastor T.B Joshua reportedly showed a three-minute video clip taken from CCTV cameras to journalists in Lagos on September 13, claiming the helicopter might have been responsible for the collapse of the six-storey guest house.
From the short video clip, a jet was observed to have hovered four times -11:30 am, 11:43 am, 11:45 am and 11:54 am -- before the building caved in.
After the fourth passage over the building, the structure collapsed at exactly 12:44 am.
He said from the video clip, the building might have been collapsed as a result of chemical substances poured on it.
Explaining after the clip, T.B Joshua said the building might have caved in as a result of a terrorist attack: "In a few weeks, the truth behind the collapsed building will be revealed. The last time the Boko Haram issue occurred, the press were against the church including the police but after some weeks, the truth behind the attack was revealed."
Joshua explained his reasons for being quiet initially as: "I do not want to put fear in the minds of Nigerians. We are still battling with the Ebola virus disease, and that was why I have decided to delay my comment till now."
He urged the Pressmen to analyse the video and come to their own conclusion as to what might have happened.
He further argued that building of such solid foundation would not have collapsed in the manner that the six-storey building came down.
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