BBC Online :
At least 67 South Africans were killed when a church hostel belonging to Nigerian TV evangelist TB Joshua collapsed in Lagos last week, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has said.
It is not clear how many people died overall, as the previous death toll was put at 60.
It is the deadliest incident involving South Africans abroad “in our recent history”, Zuma said.
Joshua, one of Nigeria’s best-known evangelists, is popular across Africa.
Nigerian authorities are often reluctant to release death tolls.
The multi-story building served as a guesthouse on the campus of the televangelist’s Synagogue, Church of All Nations.
It was housing visitors from elsewhere in Nigeria and other countries.
Joshua had said a small plane had been circling over the building before it collapsed on Friday afternoon, and suggested it was an attempt on his life.
On Tuesday, however, a rescue official said the likeliest cause of the building’s collapse was the construction of additional storeys without reinforcing the foundations.
At least 130 people, including many foreigners, were pulled out of the rubble.
Officials says members of the church at first prevented emergency workers from participating in the rescue.
