67 South Africans Killed In Nigeria Building Collapse

South Africa has announced that 67 of its nationals died when a building belonging to Nigerian televangelist TB Joshua collapsed on Friday in Lagos.

President Jacob Zuma released a statement in which he mourned a tragedy that has rocked the nation. Scores others were injured in the collapse.

Efforts are now under way to assist relatives to travel to Nigeria to identify their loved ones:

As we mourn this sudden and tragic death of our fellow compatriots, I have directed the relevant Government departments and entities to act with the utmost urgency to ensure that we facilitate the movement of relevant family members to Nigeria to identify the bodies of their loved ones and to ensure that we repatriate the remains as soon as possible under the circumstances…
…Government will keep the public informed of developments around this tragedy.

So far, Joshua’s c has blamed a low-flying aeroplane for the disaster while rescuers pin it on the renovation work that was being done to extend the guest house. They say the three floors that were being added to the two floors that were already there.

There are murmurs from some quarters that the extensions had not been sanctioned by the government of Nigeria but we have no independent confirmation of that.

Our hearts go out to those affected at this time of great sorrow. We lost fellow Africans.