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Tuesday, 28 October 2014
Synagogue: Pathologists conclude DNA tests in two weeks
The Lagos State Chief Forensic
Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, has said that
his team would conclude the DNA analysis of the
116 persons that died in the September 12
Synagogue building collapse in “two weeks time.”
Obafunwa stated this on Tuesday while
presenting his team’s preliminary report to the
coroner probing the cause of the collapse of a
guest house within the premises of the Synagogue
Church of All Nations in the Ikotun-Egbe area of
Lagos.
The pathologist, who put the mortality figure at
116, said his team was still awaiting the
fingerprint reports and lodgers’ list to conclude
their job.
He reported that the autopsy, conducted by a
team of pathologists and dental surgeons,
revealed that the victims died of crush injuries
called “traumatic rhabdomyolysis”.
Obafunwa said, “The bodies were not charred but
were compromised by heat. In the case of a
building collapse, the temperature would
naturally rise, thereby causing decomposition to
set in.
“Most of the 116 bodies that were received by our
team of pathologists were already decomposing,
considering the amount of time spent in
confinement, due to the heat and tropical nature
of the environment.
“The bodies had to be embalmed immediately to
arrest any further decomposition. The bodies
were mutilated, some had head injuries,
fractured bones and ribs and some even had
dangling limbs that were attached to the body by
thin strips of skin.”
Meanwhile, a South African citizen and a member
of the SCOAN, Mr. Anthony Vanderbyl, who lost
his wife to the Synagogue building collapse, has
pleaded for the timely release of the body.
Vanderbyl told the coroner on Tuesday that his
entire family had been further anguished due to
the delay in the release of the corpse. He
therefore asked for the specific date when the
corpse would be released.
He said, “My entire family is in anguish because
the body of my wife, the mother of my children,
lies in the mortuary. We need to see her, to feel a
certain amount of closure.
“We are asking for a specific day when her body
can be released to us, so that we can take her
back to South Africa. Please remove whatever
obstacles preventing us, we can’t take it
anymore.”
In response, the Coroner, Magistrate Oyetade
Komolafe, assured Vanderbyl that the body would
be released but that there was “need to follow the
international standard best practices in the
collection and analysis of DNA samples in order
not to be misinformed.”
Obafunwa also told the coroner that his team was
close to the end of their work.
“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,” he said.
The South African High Commissioner to Nigeria,
Mr. Louis Mnguni, said samples were still being
analysed at the laboratory in Cape Town, South
Africa.
The matter has been adjourned till Wednesday
(today).
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