TB Joshua building collapse bodies arrive in SA

The aircraft carrying the bodies of 74 of the 81 South Africans killed in the Nigeria building collapse landed at the Waterkloof air force base on Sunday morning.

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini were at the base, SABC news reported.

The SABC were allowed on to the runway ahead of the landing. Other journalists were kept in the officers’ mess at the base.

A total of 116 people died on September 12, when a guest house belonging to the Synagogue Church Of All Nations in Lagos – headed by preacher TB Joshua – collapsed.

Twenty-six injured South Africans returned a month ago. Twenty of them had since been discharged from hospitals and re-united with their families.

Government said it would host a formal reception ceremony at the site on Sunday that would be broadcast on TV.

The bodies would then be transferred to various provincial mortuaries before private funerals were arranged. – Sapa