Pathologist confirms 116 dead in Synagogue tragedy

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A Consultant Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, yesterday put the number of fatalities at the collapse of a guest house in the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos at 116. Obafunwa, who is the Chief Medical Examiner of Lagos State, made this known while presenting a preliminary report to a coroner’s inquest set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate the cause of the tragedy.
The inquest is being presided over by Mr. Oyetade Komolafe. Led in evidence by Mr. Akingbolahan Adeniran, counsel to the Lagos State Government, Obafunwa said the final report an identification of the dead bodies would be completed in the next two weeks.
Obafunwa said autopsies conducted on the bodies revealed that the victims died as a result of crush injuries also known as “traumatic rhabdomyolysis”.

He said 46 of the bodies were deposited at the Isolo General Hospital mortuary while 63 were taken to the Mainland General Hospital mortuary in Yaba. According to him, six bodies were brought to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) morgue at Ikeja. He added that the number increased to seven following the death of one of the victims rushed to LASUTH. “Some of the bodies were at the decomposing stage and mutilated, severely crushed, suffered multiple injuries, fractured bones, fractured limbs as well as skull injuries,” the pathologist said. Obafunwa added that a team of forensic pathologists and dental surgeons conducted various tests, including DNA and dental analysis, on the bodies for the purpose of identification.
“At this moment, we are putting together the autopsy report, the dental report, the photographs; we will be including the microscopic findings on the autopsy report,” he stated. He said the team was waiting for the report of finger printing, DNA analysis as well as the list of lodgers it had requested from the church before finalising its job. Obafunwa assured one of the victims’ husband and a South African, Anthony Van Der Byl, that the body of his wife, Louise, would be released at the completion of the report. “We are working closely with the South African Department of Health.
They are assisting us with reference samples and I know that we are moving closer to the end of the process,” the pathologist said. Confirming the development, the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Louis Mnguni, told the court that the samples were still being analysed at the laboratory in Cape Town, South Africa. Also testifying, Mr. Oladotun Lasoju of the Lagos State Ministry of Works said the ministry’s team of engineers had conducted tests on the materials used in constructing the building. Lasoju said: “We visited the site as part of the rudiments in the investigation.
“I want to assure the court that the Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory is working assiduously, and I believe the result will be out in a maximum period of three weeks.” However, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, Head of Operations, Search and Rescue, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said 86 bodies were recovered while 131 persons were rescued. The case was adjourned until tomorrow for further hearing. Meanwhile, a lawyer and human rights activist, Olukoya Ogungbeje, has filed a suit against the Lagos State Government before a Federal High Court in Lagos seeking an order to stop further proceedings of the inquest.
Ogungbeje, in the suit which has the Lagos State Government, its Justice Commissioner and Attorney- General and Magistrate Komolafe as first to third defendants, is asking the court to grant an order halting further proceedings of the inquest. The lawyer, who predicated his suit on Section 36 of the Constitution, faulted the composition of the inquest, describing it as a negation of the principle of natural justice, hence ‘it is unconstitutional, null and void.”
Ogungbeje alleged that the inquest which was constituted by the Lagos State Government had indicted T.B Joshua and his church for wrongdoing with the addition of structures on the building without approval, insisting that it would occasion a miscarriage of justice should it continue with its sitting, especially as the coroner would base its decision on the testimonies of the same agencies of Lagos State, which had already indicted Joshua and his church.
He alleged that the Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA), the Lagos State Building Control Agency, the Lagos State Fire Service, the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) and others had made public certain prejudicial reports that the building collapsed as a result of additional structures, while Joshua’s claim that the building collapsed as a result of an aircraft hovering round the building moments before it collapsed, was ignored.
http://newtelegraphonline.com/pathologist-confirms-116-dead-in-synagogue-tragedy/