Pretoria – The mortal remains of 74 South Africans, who died when a guesthouse collapsed in the Nigerian economic capital of Lagos in September, arrived home on Sunday morning.
The bodies touched down on South African soil at the Waterkloof Air Base in Pretoria at 9.45am.
The mood at the air base, which was busy with various SANDF, Health, SAPS and other government officials, was sombre.
The bodies were carried in mobile mortuary trucks on board the Antonov cargo aircraft which left Lagos in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The four forensic pathology trucks from the Department of Health are specifically designed to handle bodies in disaster situations and special equipment used.
An official delegation stood on the tarmac to receive the aircraft, including Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team set up to oversee the repatriation, Jeff Radebe, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini.
The specialised trucks left the aircraft one by one. They were then driven to a hangar where it is expected they will be stored until the formal reception ceremony later today.
Earlier on Sunday, a passenger aircraft landed carrying an 80-member specialist team from the Department of Health, the South African Police Service and the South African Military Health Service, among others.
The arrival of the bodies signals the end to a harrowing two-month wait for the families of the victims.
Officials from the Department of Social Development, who have been in contact with the families throughout the process, will continue to provide support and counselling throughout the day.
Late last night, Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team, Jeff Radebe, said the government team in Lagos would continue to work around the clock to identify the remaining South Africans and ensure their speedy repatriation.
Minister Radebe met with the Nigerian Federal Government authorities, as well as Lagos State authorities to expedite the process last week.
The South Africans were killed when a guesthouse belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed on September 12, killing 116 people. Most of them were South Africans.
South Africa agreed to repatriate three Zimbabwean nationals and one from the DRC who were travelling on South African passports.
The lengthy process to identify the bodies was made difficult by the nature of the incident.
“The bodies of 11 other people from South Africa still have to be positively identified in Lagos and will be repatriated later…the job has not stopped for us,” Minister Radebe said shortly after arriving back from Nigeria this morning.
Inter-Ministerial Task Team spokesperson, Phumla Williams, said the repatriation process had been tiring but that the officials had to be commended for their efforts.
“It was exhausting, but the fact that we finally brought our compatriots home – we could not be prouder. We pulled it off and we could not be prouder,” said Williams.
She said the difficulty of the task ahead dawned on the team when they visited the site where the guesthouse collapsed earlier in the week.
“It was full of emotions. It hit hard that this was someone’s son or daughter, who came for spiritual upliftment, who had died such gruesome death. It was heavy.”
Family members of the victims have been travelling to Pretoria to be part of an official reception at the air base this afternoon. The event will be led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The ceremony will also be broadcast live on national television, and South Africans are encouraged to watch.
At the end of the formal reception ceremony, the mortal remains will be transported by road to the closest government Forensic Pathology Services mortuaries in the different provinces.
From there, the mortal remains will be transported to the government mortuary closest to the place of burial where they will be received by their next-of-kin.
Individual families will proceed with their own private funeral arrangements. –SAnews.gov.za
