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| Joshua |
South Africa’s president announced
Tuesday that 67 of his compatriots were among scores of worshippers killed in
the collapse of embattled TB Joshua’s Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN).
Declaring his nation in grief, Jacob
Zuma said he was “greatly saddened to announce that 67 South Africans died and
scores of others sustained injuries,” when a church hostel building collapsed
in Lagos on Friday.
The tally of South African dead
exceeds the previous toll of 62 thought dead in the disaster, a grim signal
that the number of fatalities is likely to rise.
Rescuers say the church’s hostel —
which housed Nigerian and foreign followers of a preacher and televangelist,
T.B. Joshua — had been overburdened by the construction of additional floors.
The goateed preacher initially claimed
that only a few people were injured and then suggested that a low-flying
aircraft was responsible for the collapse.
On Tuesday he tweeted: “Hard times
may test me, they cannot destroy me.”
Nigeria’s National Emergency
Management Agency’s Ibrahim Farinloye said that much about the incident
remained unclear.
The church known as The Synagogue
“hid so much information from us, and (this is) the cause of frustration for
rescuers,” he said.
Dubbed “The Prophet”, Joshua claims
to have foreseen the Malaysian Airlines MH17 plane crash, the Boston marathon
bombings and the results of Nigerian football matches.
He counts presidents and prime
ministers among his flock, giving him considerable political clout.
Former Malawian head of state Joyce
Banda, who has described Joshua as her “spiritual father,” said Tuesday she was
“deeply shocked” by the accident
“It’s unfortunate that people lost
their lives while praying,” she told AFP.
According to Joshua’s website, three
of the church’s previous buildings were also destroyed.
“The roof of the first church was
blown off by a storm, the second church was washed away by a flood while the
third church also collapsed due to severe weather conditions.”
- A nation grieving - Late Tuesday
rescue workers were still sifting through the rubble of the church’s hostel,
hoping against hope to find survivors.
Their prayers were answered earlier
in the day when a woman was rescued and was able to walk away with just a
broken wrist.
The discovery prompted emergency
workers to slow down their digging in the wreckage of the guesthouse.
But for many others, there will be
no dramatic and happy exit.
Rescue efforts that have so far
saved the lives of 133 victims are scheduled to end on Wednesday.
“We have reached a critical stage
now and more survivors are likely to be brought out of the rubble,” Farinloye
said.
At least five South African church
tour groups were at The Synagogue at the time of the collapse, according to
South African officials.
“Not in the recent history of our
country have we had this large number of our people die in one incident outside
the country,” Zuma said in a statement to the nation.
“The whole nation shares the pain of
the mothers, fathers, daughters and sons who have lost their loved ones. We are
all in grief.”
Zuma said he had ordered government
departments to help family members get to Nigeria to identify the bodies of
their loved ones and repatriate the remains as soon as possible.
Vanguard -
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