* Some 130 pulled alive from wreckage with various injuries* Compound belongs to one of Nigeria's best-known pastors (Updates death toll, adds quotes, details)
LAGOS- The number of people killed in the collapse of a guest house under construction at the Lagos headquarters of one of Nigeria's best-known Christian evangelical pastors rose to 41 on Sunday, rescuers said, as they worked to clear the wreckage.The five-storey building in the Ikotun neighbourhood of Lagos collapsed on Friday, and Farinloye said some 130 people had been pulled out alive with varying degrees of injuryLocal media showed a mound of flattened concrete and twisted steel wires at the compound belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations, which is headed by "Prophet" T.B. Joshua, who has followers across Africa and around the world.
"We have 41 dead now," Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesman in Lagos for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said.On Friday after the collapse, members of the church had at first prevented emergency officials from participating in the rescue, making it difficult to establish a toll for the dead and injured. But state rescuers were allowed in on Saturday."We're still working at the site," said Farinloye, adding he expected the clear-up would extend into Monday.There was no immediate explanation for the collapseEemergency services officials said the lower two floors of the building located in the large church compound had already been operating as a guest house, and it appeared construction work was underway to add three more floors (Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
Rescue
workers gather at the sits of a collapsed building belonging to the
Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria, Saturday, Sept, 13.
2014. The building was being extended, adding 3 additional floors when
it collapsed. (AP/Sunday Alamba).
The building was being extended to accommodate more visitors
TB
Joshua, one of Nigeria's best known preachers, has linked a small plane
circling over a church guesthouse in Lagos to its subsequent collapse.
At least 40 people died when the two-storey guesthouse for members of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed on Friday.
There is no official comment. Local officials have said additional floors were being added to the structure.
Mr Joshua - also known as the Prophet - regularly preaches to vast crowds.
The popular televangelist says a small plane had circled over the building four times before it collapsed on Friday afternoon and it may have been an attempt to kill him.
"It was yesterday, Friday, as I was praying; they came to call me that there was an airplane hovering over the church. They said it is like it wanted to land," his statement said.
He said about 30 minutes later, it came over the building several times.
"About five minutes after, the building came down."
He gave journalists a CCTV video clip of the alleged plane, urging them "to use their discretion to write on what they saw".
Rescue officials say 130 people were pulled out of the rubble - some are being treated in local hospitals. Many foreigners are believed to have been there at the time.
Mr Joshua's services, at a mega-church in Lagos's Ikotun district, are known for attracting thousands of people.
Followers in Nigeria and abroad believe he has the gifts of healing and prophecy.
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