Synagogue tragedy: South Africa identifies 62 of its dead citizens

South African Minister, Jeff Radebe has disclosed that 62 of the country’s 84 citizens killed in the Synagogue church building collapse had been identified “with certainty”.
The minister, who stated this while giving an update in Pretoria on the situation, noted that this was a “methodical and time consuming process, and one would not be able to predict the exact timeframes for completion”.
According to him, “On the issue of the bodies, right now, the team that is there in Lagos has been able to identify with certainty 62 South Africans.
“So the remainder, as you know there are 115 deceased in this tragedy, and 84 of the 115 are South Africans, so we still have a long time to go.,” he said, adding that he meant not long in terms of time, but in effort.
He said Jacob Zuma’s government was committed to ensuring that all those killed were accurately identified, and their bodies brought home.
His words, “We want to assure the South African nation that we shall spare neither strength nor effort in ensuring that the deceased are repatriated back home.
“We believe that the repatriation of the deceased is the crucial first step in helping the families find closure in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy.”
Radebe, who heads an interministerial team tasked by President Jacob Zuma to manage the situation, said identification of bodies following a disaster was a specialised scientific process, involving painstakingly thorough procedures.
“A South African team of experts on the ground in Nigeria is working closely with (their Nigerian counterparts) to ensure that this process is completed as soon as possible.”
The process involved either identification of bodies by next of kin, through photo identification, from fingerprints, from dental records, or — if all these were not possible — through DNA.
“Our government appeals to the families and the nation to bear with us as we allow our team in Lagos the necessary time to complete this process.”
Once the bodies were all identified, a team of 70 South African military health service experts “is ready to depart for Lagos with specialised equipment to transport the deceased back to South Africa with the required care and the required respect”, Radebe added.