South African family of victim of Synagogue building collapse rejects body

Patricia Mkhulisi

 A South African family, the Mkhulisi family, have rejected the body of one Patricia Mkhulisi, (pictured above) who died at the Synagogue building collapse, arguing that the body presented to them was not that of their daughter. Patricia's remains was repatriated to South African on February 5th after DNA testing in Lagos and South Africa had proven her identity.

Two DNA test has so far confirmed the identity of the body to be that of Patricia's but the family say they are still not satisfied with these results and would go further with an independent DNA testing.

Speaking with Channels TV, the brother to Patricia, Lwandle Mkhulisi, argued that his sister had a gap tooth but that the remains of the person who was brought to them had no gap tooth.

"My sister had a gap tooth but the person that we saw there doesn't have a gap. What made this thing really worse was that when we wanted to see whether any birthmark or scar was on her, that body doesn't have a skin"he said

His claim however was refuted by Dr Munro Max, owner of the Unistel Medical Laboratory in South Africa where the DNA testing was done in collaboration with the Nigerian government. Dr Max argued that concretes that fell on the bodies of the victims must have caused altercation on their bodies

"You must also remember that tonnes of concrete and building materials was on top of these bodies so there would have been, I suspect, compressed quite a lot and a lot of fractures would have occurred"he said

Speaking on the matter, the Nigerian Ambassador to South Africa, Martins Cobhams, said no formal complain or request has been made to the Embassy. He however said that if and when they get any formal complain from the family, they would expedite action on it. He applauded the forensic experts who have so far proved in two consecutive test that the body was indeed that of Patricia's

"First of all I would like to congratulate the forensic experts for reiterating that that body is that family's. At least that puts to rest their concerns and contentions of the body brought to them. On our own part, if they insist that the body is not that of their loved one, they should make a normal complain and we would forward same to the relevant authorities back in Nigeria"he said

Everyone now awaits the result from the independent DNA test by the family to put the controversy surrounding the body to rest.