Lagos State government on Friday said dead bodies recovered from the Ikoyi collapsed building are now ready for identification, calling on families of the deceased to go to the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba for identification of the corpses of their loved ones.
This was just as the state government disclosed that 38 bodies had been recovered so far from the collapsed building as rescue operation entered Day Four on Friday, while family members had submitted 32 names of those still missing.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, made this known to newsmen, while giving an update to the sad incident, saying that the bodies would be ready for identification from 4pm on Friday at the IDH, Yaba.
Omotoso, who addressed the press conference in the company of the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr Tayo Bamgbose-Martins and Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, said an autopsy would be carried out on the corpses before releasing them to their families.
The commissioner said the autopsy was important because the law says that whenever there is death as a result of such incidents like the collapsed building, an autopsy must be done before the body is released.
He equally debunked reports that the rescue operation team at the collapsed building stopped the search and rescue work on Thursday, maintaining that work was still ongoing and would continue until the government could account for everybody inside the building at time of collapse and certify that nobody was left behind in the collapsed building.
“So far now, we have recorded 38 dead bodies. And as you know, we have nine survivors. Some bodies are ready for identification. So, people can go to IDH, Yaba as from 4pm to identify the bodies of their loved ones.
“For bodies that may be very difficult to identify, we are going to be conducting DNA tests for such bodies to be identified. There are rules for giving bodies to people.
“There are some of the bodies that are in a state that it would be unprofessional for the hospitals to allow people to look at them in that present state and for them to be released the way they are. That is why we have the little delay that we are having. But if you go to IDH, Yaba from 4pm, you should be able to see some of the bodies and be able to identify who you want to identify,” he said.
The commissioner said that one of the patients that were taken to LASUTh from the General Hospital for a test had been brought back to the hospital and was doing well like all the patients who were there.
“Yesterday, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said one of the patients at the General Hospital was taken to LASUTH for a test and all that. The patient has been brought back to the hospital and he is said to be doing well. And all the patients who were there are doing well,” Omotoso said.
The multi-sectoral search and rescue operation was ongoing as of press time.
The effort is being led by teams of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with the support of construction giants, Julius Berger, Craneburg, HiTech and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
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