LAGOS, Nigeria — The death toll in the collapse of a building in Nigeria last week rose Tuesday when the South African president said 67 South Africans died and dozens were injured in the accident.
Separately, a Nigerian official said 63 bodies had been recovered at the site of Friday’s disaster in the city of Lagos.
“This is a particularly difficult time for South Africa,” President Jacob Zuma said in a statement. “Not in the recent history of our country have we had this large number of our people die in one incident outside the country.”
The fallen multistory building served as a shopping mall and guesthouse at the sprawling campus of televangelist T.B. Joshua’s Synagogue, Church of All Nations, on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.
“We rescued a woman, alive around 2 a.m. this morning,” said Ibrahim Farinloye of the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency. “We found her under the rubble. She walked away with only a little dislocation on her hand. She is very, very lucky.”
Rescue workers had recovered 63 bodies and rescued 131 survivors, Farinloye said. More than 1,000 rescuers were at the scene.
The church has attracted people from around the world to experience the evangelical Joshua’s preaching, prophecies and faith healing and to get his blessed water that some say has miraculous powers.