Long cries echoed through an airforce base storage place on Sunday as grieving family members broke down during a ceremony to receive the remains of 74 South Africans killed in a Nigerian church building collapse.
Many could not fight back tears when names of those killed were called out and a procession of giant mortuary trucks carrying the bodies, slowly drove past the gathering to the tune of the “death march” played by the police band.
A total of 116 people, including 81 South Africans were killed on September 12 when a multi-storey guesthouse collapsed at a Lagos mega-church.
Efforts are now being escalated to ensure that the bodies of 11 people who died in the Nigeria church building collapse are returned home, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said in Pretoria on Sunday.
“We will intensify our efforts to ensure that the bodies still in Nigeria are returned without delay,” he said at a ceremony at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, marking the arrival of the bodies of 74 victims.
Paramedics rushed towards some family members who began to weep hysterically as director-general in the presidency Cassius Lubisi proceeded to read out the names of the dead.
Mpumalanga led the pack with 23 dead, Gauteng was next with 22, Limpopo lost 13, Eastern Cape lost 12, North West lost six, KwaZulu-Natal lost five, and lastly the Western Cape and Free State each lost two people.
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