- Death toll rises to 63, says NEMA
Rescuers at the site of the collapsed building in Synagogue Church of All Nations yesterday watched in awe as a middle-aged woman came out of the rubble alive. She escaped unhurt from the rubble five days after the building caved in. Scores of injured worshipers were already recuperating from different hospitals such as Igando General Hospital, Isolo General Hospital, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, where they were rushed to.
Yesterday, many people wondered how the woman survived five days under the rubble despite the heat and the fire which broke out from the collapsed building on Monday morning. Speaking with NT Metro yesterday, the South-West spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA),
Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, said the 45-year-old woman escaped from the rubble on her own. He said: “A woman of about 45 years’ old walked out from the rubble on her own around 2am. More bodies were recovered from the rubble.” Meanwhile, the five sniffer dogs which the police promised to deploy to help in rescuing trapped bodies were still being expected at press time. Yet the malodorous stench emanating from the site shows that rescuers were inching closer to area suspected to have harbored more people inside the collapsed guest house.
Meanwhile, the official figure of those died yesterday rose to 63 while 131, including the woman nicknamed ‘miracle woman’ have so far survived. But there are indications that officials of NEMA and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the church have not disclosed the actual figure of those who had lost their lives to the tragedy. On the fifth day of the evacuation of the collapsed guest house, investigation showed that more than 74 people died in the incident. Apart from the 63 official figure; investigation by NT Metro showed additional 12 bodies in various mortuaries.
Our correspondent who visited the General Hospital Isolo on Monday, one of the facilities where the recovered bodies were deposited, confirmed that 46 bodies wrapped in white body bags were being kept in three large rooms at the morgue. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a mortuary attendant said that the bodies were brought in by the state officials. He said: “The state emergency officials brought 46 dead victims at first, which we deposited in the three separate rooms like you have seen. Later they brought more bodies but we refused to take them in because we have already exhausted our capacity.
“They later deposited seven bodies at Ikeja General Hospital and another five at Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Yaba and I am in touch with the mortuary staff in those places.” Also, a top official at the Ikeja General Hospital mortuary confirmed that seven bodies were brought in from Synagogue Church. “I will not touch any of those bodies; and none of my staff would open the body bags so that you can take a look. “We in Lagos State have managed to contain Ebola outbreak; and I will not for any reason risk any life here just to let you see the bodies. “But I can tell you that the church brought seven bodies and they are deposited in this mortuary.”
NEW TELEGRAPH
No comments:
Post a Comment